The Morning After
by Methos2523
Summary: After the events of Chosen, the scooby gang and the new slayers pass through Vegas on their way to Cleveland... though the events of the Sunnydale Catastrophe, now national news, pale in comparison to the trouble Xander has found himself in this time...
1. Chapter 1

TITLE: The morning after

AUTHOR: Methos

AN: This is a response to the 'Woke Up in Vegas' challenge on TTH. Challenge is as follows "The challenge is this: A BtVS or AtS character and a character from another genre meet up in Vegas and get really, really smashed. They end up in bed and MARRIED. Your story should pick up the next morning, when one or the other (or both) wakes up completely confused. What comes next for the (un)happy pair? Do they stay together? Is there a reason why they can't separate? Are there long term consequences or just short term? And what do their friends think of what's happened?"

* * *

><p>Xander groaned as he fought his way to consciousness, the pounding that he'd first assumed was just in his head was now echoing loudly around the hotel room.<p>

As he stood up from the bed he groaned again, louder this time as the sunlight that was streaming through the window assaulted his eyes. Grabbing the thin duvet from the bed he held it loosely over his stomach as he stumbled across the hotel room, rubbing his face with his other hand as he reached the door.

"Wha…" He trailed off as he pulled the door open, intending to ask 'what do you want?' to whoever it was that had woken him up at whatever hour of the morning it was. However this course of action was quickly derailed as the blinding flash of several cameras went off at once, sending bright shooting pains through his eyes and up into his still alcohol riddled brain.

"Gah!" Xander shouted, bringing both hands up to cover his eyes, dropping the duvet in the process and leaving him stood there in the doorway naked, covering just his face with his hands.

For a moment silence fell around the doorway, a few occasional flashes of cameras punctuated the time that was passing before Xander's brain caught up with exactly what was happening here.

"You know, I've had this nightmare before," He muttered before pinching himself and realising he was actually awake. "Aaahhh!" He shouted as realisation kicked in, stumbling backwards and nearly tripping over the duvet that he was pulling back with his heel before slamming the door shut on the various flashes as garbled questions that were barely coherent to him. "What the…" He asked rhetorically as he rubbed his face again, the bright flashes from the camera bulbs had left strange purpley green dancing after images on his vision, shaking his head slightly and blinking rapidly to clear his eyesight he turned back to the room and frowned again.

There, on his bed, wearing only what looked to be a lacy green pair of French panties, and covering her chest with her hands, was one of the cutest women Xander had ever actually seen. It didn't help that she was blushing furiously; something Xander thought made her seem even cuter.

"Uh, hi?" He muttered questioningly, peeking out between his fingers as he continued to rub his eyes to try and rid himself of the dancing lights.

"You're naked."

"Right," Xander nodded, pretty much frozen to the spot as the implications of what she'd just said filtered into his brain. Grabbing the duvet from the floor he quickly pulled it up to cover the tattered rags of his dignity before turning his gaze back to her. "Sorry about… well, the nakedness and all…" He trailed off as he tied the duvet loosely around his waist so he could still use his hands. "Did we… ah… you know?"

"Have sex?" She asked as she pulled and mattress sheet off the bed and used it to cover herself up. "I'm… pretty sure, I think so anyway."

"Just checking," Xander muttered as he rubbed his head. "Sorry, fighting a bit of a hangover here so bear with me."

"Same here," She nodded back as she leaned over the side of the bed to pull up a stylish leather handbag, knocking several papers and a strange flower type thing off of the bedside table as she moved.

"Drinking bad, alcohol bad," Xander muttered to himself as he shuffled his way into the bathroom and splashed his face with cold water. "What was that about anyway?" He shouted out of the bathroom as he used his hands to cup water from the tap into his mouth.

"One second," She shouted back.

"Sure," Xander said quietly as he half listened to her talking on what he guessed was a cell phone, he couldn't really make out the words but shrugged it off anyway as he splashed some cold water on his face to help himself wake up, using the hand towel to dry off the eye patch so it didn't soak up the water and cling to his cheek.

"Oh god!"

"What… what is it?" Xander asked as he jogged out of the room, the woman on the bed looked white as a sheet and was holding a piece of paper in her hand like it was a note from Satan himself.

"Alexander Lavelle Harris?" She asked questioningly.

"Full name, ouch, am I in trouble or… wait, how'd you know my name?" He asked, still pulling a blank on her name or any of the events that obviously had led them to sharing a bad last night.

"It's on here…" She trailed off as she passed the bit of paper over.

"Alexander Lavelle Harris and… Zoey Harris?" He read questioningly. "Zoey?"

"Zoey Bartlet." She confirmed. "And you're about to tell me this is some sort of joke right?" She asked hopefully, holding up her left hand where a simple gold band decorated her ring finger.

"Oh man, oh please god…" Xander said fervently as he brought up his own left hand and looked at the ring finger there, half in surprise that he hadn't actually registered the simple ring before. He didn't really wear jewellery that much, aside from the simple silver cross that Willow had given him for his birthday a few years back, so he really should have registered a ring that was nestled on his finger before now. "Damnit."

"You look good in a tux," Zoey said half hysterically as she looked at what was obviously a photo from last night.

"We got married, in Vegas?" Xander asked in disbelief, he couldn't have been that stupid surely; they were only passing through Vegas after leaving Sunnydale. Buffy had taken Giles seriously when he'd mentioned a Hellmouth in Cleveland, so that was supposed to be their destination, Las Vegas had just been one of the stops along the way for them to relax for a bit before heading back on the road. "Oh man, this isn't good."

"Bit of an understatement." Zoey shot back at him. "I can't believe you opened the door, the reporters, oh god, my dad is going to kill me for this." She complained to herself, hiding her face in her hands.

"Your dad, my friends, whichever finds us first." Xander muttered as he sat down on the bed and ran his hand through his hair. "Don't they have precautions against this sort of thing, you know, no getting married while drunk sort of thing?"

"It's Vegas," Zoey said simply as if it explained everything. "And I think we should worry more about my dad than your friends."

"Oh god, he's not a mob boss or anything is he?" Xander asked in shock.

"Not really," Zoey answered, trying to break this as gently as she could.

"Army?" Xander asked again, his imagination dredging up thoughts of a pissed off army general kicking down the door any second.

"He has friends there," Zoey winced. "Josiah Bartlet?" She asked hopefully.

"Not ringing any bells," Xander answered honestly as he thumbed the photo that Zoey had given them, the picture showed them both smiling happily, obviously drunk, at what strangely appeared to be a Star Trek themed chapel. "Did I have a Klingon as my best man?" He asked, still in a bit of shock at what the photo was showing him.

"The President?" She asked again, ignoring his question about the Klingon.

"Of what?" Xander asked, putting the photo down on the bed as he looked at her for clarification.

"The United States." Zoey answered simply, causing Xander to fall off the side of the bed and land in a crumpled and shocked heap on the floor.

* * *

><p>Toby Ziegler was not having the best morning so far, for starters it was only five twenty in the morning and he hadn't had a coffee yet, second and more importantly he'd been woken up by an urgent call from CJ telling him that the youngest daughter of the President had been photographed getting married in Las Vegas last night and the story was already running nationally through the papers.<p>

None of the senior staff from the west wing had actually done much sleeping tonight, he was pretty sure on that, they'd all been watching the news regularly as aid relief and disaster efforts continued in south California, that was the main item on the President's agenda at the moment. How a small town in California had literally wiped itself off the map three days ago.

So far the President had had meetings with everyone from the security council, who assured him this wasn't the result of an attack on US soil, through to agricultural and seismologists, who assured him the sinking of Sunnydale, into what was being named by the press 'Sunnydale Crater', was not a natural phenomenon. They had readings from both Los Angeles Institute of Seismology and Santa Barbara University, which both backed up the claims that aside from the actual destruction of Sunnydale, there were no movements in the earth's crust at all that day, no aftershocks, no precursor tremors, it was as if the entire world had actually paused for the day while Sunnydale obliterated itself.

However the Sunnydale incident was likely to be on the backburner today, at least as far as the President was concerned. His youngest daughter, a girl the entire west wing staff had known for over four years now, had managed to slip away from Georgetown University where she was supposed to be, effectively slipping past her secret service guards, and managed to not only get across the entire country undetected by either them or the media, but had actually got married in what he was guessing was an impromptu ceremony, which again he was guessing from the looks on both Zoey's and the unknown man's face, involved copious amounts of alcohol.

This wasn't what they needed during their re-election campaign, the devastation of Sunnydale had thankfully grabbed all the newspapers and shows, forcing the public to forget about the MS scandal for a while, which should have given them some breathing room, but only made their life harder as they tried to plan a full re-election campaign while working through the Sunnydale catastrophe at the same time.

Several questions were running through his mind as he stormed through the lobby of his building, namely why was the President's daughter in Las Vegas getting married when she should have been at Georgetown University, second of all who was the guy she was marrying, third of all was where in god's name were the Secret Service agents that were supposed to be guarding her, and most importantly was did The President know about this, and if he didn't, how in god's name was he going to be the one to tell him.

Pushing the door to the building open violently he stormed out onto the street, the sun was only just glimpsing over the horizon but people were already moving about in the dim light of the streets, glancing down, then up the street quickly he found what he was looking for, a small newspaper vendor a few dozen yards away that was already open for business.

Jogging over he took a quick glance at the newspaper headlines, grimacing as they all read pretty much the same, every single newspaper had the same photo of Zoey with a taller man, standing at what looked to be some sort of science fiction themed chapel, he made a note to ask Josh about the chapel, figuring either Josh or Donna would recognise the trappings from somewhere.

Grabbing one of each of the papers he didn't bother counting them up before dropping a ten dollar bill on the stack of magazines in front of the vendor owner before tucking them under his arm and walking off, he was way too busy this morning to be worrying about change for the papers, now he had to figure out what they were going to do about this and how CJ was actively going to spin this to the press in this morning's inevitable media frenzy.

Waving down a cab quickly he hopped inside as one pulled up, praising his good luck on this one occasion when he needed a cab quickly he closed the door and turned to the driver. "Executive Avenue, west." He stated his destination quickly as the driver started driving down the road, already facing the way they needed to go.

Picking one of the papers off of his lap he flicked through the headline again, grimacing at the photo once more and memorising the face of the groom on the photo, half pitying the man in the photo and half-wondering if the eye patch that covered his left eye was real or part of some costume.

He doubted he had been the first call on CJ's admittedly short list of people to call during a situation like this, more than likely the entire senior staff were being called in and were, like him, hurrying to the White House to see what each of them could do.

To be honest though, he didn't actually see what could be done about this, Zoey had been married in a public ceremony, to a man none of them actually knew, and the reporters already had the story and photographs to back it up. He winced as he pictured how President Bartlet was going to take the news and tried to picture how bad life was going to be around the White House for the foreseeable future.

* * *

><p>"You're the President's daughter?" Xander asked in shock, pushing himself back along the floor until he was against the wall, literally as far away from the cute redhead as he could be at the moment.<p>

"Zoey," She said her name again. "I take it you don't remember last night either then?"

"I'm going to have to go with 'hell no' on that one." Xander said, dragging his hands down his face as he tried to figure out exactly how monumentally screwed he was right now. He'd only gone to the bar to have a few drinks in quiet, the trip up to Vegas had been long and annoying, the past few weeks they'd all been in cramped conditions at Buffy's house while working on battling the First Evil, and the bus ride up to Vegas hadn't been that much better to be honest.

They'd only stopped once on the way up, at a motel just off the main interstate through Angeles National Park, using the solitude of the location to redress wounds, deal with the stress of what they'd all been through, and bury their dead.

Robin had died in the bus ride, he'd lasted a few hours out of Sunnydale with Faith fussing over him and doing everything she could, but in the ends his wounds had been too much for their limited medical knowledge. He was now buried in Angeles National Park, along with three other Slayers who had been wounded in the final battle and had only made it to the bus with the skin of their teeth.

All in all there were five graves they'd left behind, four bodies and one empty grave that he'd dug himself, a grave marked simply Anya.

So that was why he was drinking.

Buffy and the rest of the new Slayers were arguing constantly and trying to formulate a plan for what they should do next, Willow had pretty much collapsed on the hotel room bed as soon as they'd got to their rooms, she'd slept pretty much the entire journey through. He didn't pretend to understand magic or what Willow had actually done that night, but he did know it was big and had taken a lot out of her.

Giles had assured him that she was going to be fine, that she just needed to rest after channelling such potent magics through herself.

Faith had been quiet for most of the journey, sitting at the back of the bus, alone quiet, simply staring out of the window and smoking, ignoring anything that anyone said to her and simply ignoring anyone that came to sit by her. She'd left the hotel first, not even bothering to check into her room, simply grabbing one of the swords they'd brought with them and walking off into the night without another word.

He'd actually considered following her, he knew how she felt, angry, hurt, and alone. In retrospect he wished he had followed her now, facing down vampires, demons or whatever other supernatural menace Las Vegas had to throw at them would have been preferable to dealing with the fallout of whatever stupidity he had gone through with last night.

"Aren't you supposed to be guarded?" Xander asked after several moments' silence. "You know, big men in black style guys, intercoms and guns and all that?"

"The secret service," Zoey understood what he meant and gave him the correct name for them. "I wanted some time alone."

"Vegas isn't exactly big on solitude." Xander offered with a half-smile.

"Yeah well it was as far as I could get away from that lying sleaze ball as I could." Zoey shot back with venom in her voice. "All my friends are too busy talking about me behind my back, so can't exactly talk to them."

"Whoa, chill, sorry, didn't mean to press." Xander smiled back disarmingly, holding his hands up in a universal sign of surrender.

"I came home early from class to find him in bed with another woman!" Zoey shouted at Xander. "Cheating on me, on me!"

"Ohhh kay," Xander drawled out as he tried to figure out if he was going to become a punching bag her or a shoulder to cry on.

"That asshole cheated on me with my own roommate; do you know how that makes me feel?" Zoey continued her rant as Xander stood up and moved to sit back on the bed.

"I'm going with angry here?" He half asked with a small shrug and a smile. It almost brought a smile to Zoey's cheeks; a ghost of a smile flittered there for a moment before she burst into tears.

"Oh… uh, there…" Xander said awkwardly as he slowly shuffled up the bed and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tight and letting the tears run down her face and onto his shoulder. "Look, uh, whoever this guy was, he obviously didn't deserve you if he was sleeping with your roommate right, I mean that's the lowest of the low right?"

"He's scum," Zoey hiccupped between tears.

"And we can all agree on that," Xander nodded as he shuffled around to face her and lifted her face up with one hand. "He's not worth getting upset over, seriously." Xander smiled as he used his thumb to wipe away one of the tears that was running down her cheek. "Couldn't you have just got one of your guardy type blokes the beat him up or something?" Xander asked with a grin.

"You like making people laugh?" Zoey asked, wiping her tears away herself this time.

"Kinda my thing," Xander answered honestly.

"You're a soldier?" Zoey asked after a moment.

"Soldier?" Xander laughed. "God no, six am wake up calls and running with heavy backpacks just for fun, not my idea of a good time thank you very much." He shook his head in amusement. "What gave you that idea?"

"Your scars," Zoey said simply, reminding Xander that he was all but naked still with just a thin duvet wrapped around his waist. "Your eye." She said after a moment, reaching up to touch the eye patch.

"You know they say don't run with scissors right?" Xander said, standing up from the bed before she could touch the eye patch that covered his left eye. "Good advice it turns out." He paused for a moment, standing awkwardly in the silence. "I'm gonna… you know…"

"Get dressed?" Zoey smiled as she watched him grab some dirty jeans from the floor along with a grey t-shirt and a flannel shirt.

"Yeah, do you need to… uh…" Xander motioned to the bathroom where he was planning on getting dressed.

"I'm good," Zoey nodded, thinking that once he was in the bathroom she could get out of bed and get dressed with the minimum of embarrassment.

"Right… then I'll just…" Xander smiled at her for a moment before stepping inside the bathroom and closing the door behind him.

* * *

><p>"Leo," Toby said simply as he walked into the main office where Leo was already sat with one of the newspapers on his desk.<p>

"How did this happen?" Leo barked out, staring at Toby and the stack of newspapers he was carrying. "I've got Ron on line one hunting down Agent Toscano to find out how the hell Zoey managed to get across the country without being noticed."

"Anything?" Toby asked as he looked at the telephone in Leo's hand.

"I'm on hold while he figures this mess out." Leo frowned over. "This isn't good, not by a long shot."

"Damage control?" Toby asked simply.

"CJ and Sam and looking over the papers, trying to get the full story before they head in, The President is in the residence with the First Lady now." Leo answered with a wince.

"I take it that conversation isn't going well." Toby muttered rhetorically.

"What do you think?" Leo glared over.

* * *

><p>"How in god's name could she do something like this?" President Bartlet shouted over, not intending either the shout or the question to be aimed at his wife as he stormed to the balcony doors and pushed them open violently. "And why wasn't her protective detail there to stop this from happening?" He shouted again as he pulled a cigarette from his jacket pocket and quickly lit it in the morning air.<p>

"I don't know," Abbey replied, still sat down on the bed in shock over what they had been told by CJ and Leo. The double shock of their youngest daughter getting married, and married while obviously drunk in Las Vegas had hit them both hard. The fact that they weren't there for the ceremony, nor did they even know Zoey had been dating this man, was ringing through both of their minds, the fact that the press had known Zoey was married before they did was just adding a bitter taste to the event already.

"She knows better than this, we brought her up better than this damnit!" President Bartlet shouted into the night.

"Zoey's always been her own person, you can't say otherwise." Abbey said, managing to sound a lot calmer than she actually felt under the situation.

"Married, I at least thought she'd have introduced us to him before they got married." President Bartlet said after a moment of taking deep breaths. "Who is this guy, has she mentioned anyone to you?"

"I'm as much in the dark as you are." Abbey replied.

"I want her here right now." President Bartlet stated firmly.

"You said that to Leo remember?" Abbey half smiled at him. "Remember what he said?"

"Yeah yeah, wait until I've calmed down to talk to her." President Bartlet muttered. "I don't want to be calm; I want to find out what the hell she was thinking."

"Then you'll shout at her, and she'll shout back, and you'll both walk away having ruined Zoey's wedding." Abbey explained calmly. "You need to calm down or she's not going to come here, let alone introduce her husband to you."

"You honestly think I want to meet this guy?" President Bartlet asked as he snatched up one of the morning papers that was on the desk and glared at the photo that was prominently displayed on the front page. "Look at him, scruffy hair, half ironed tux, I'd bet that's even a rental, and what in god's name is he wearing an eye patch for and getting married to my daughter in a Star Trek themed chapel?" By the end of his rant he was practically screaming so loud they would have heard him down at Quantico. "My god, he looks like some tacky James Bond villain for crying out loud."

"And he's married to our daughter." Abbey emphasised the word 'our' as she stood up from the bed. "Do you want to tell our youngest daughter than you don't want to meet her new husband?"

"Do I have to like him?" President Bartlet asked, softly glaring at his wife across the room. "Because I am the President you know, and the forty second airborne is sounding like a pretty good idea from where I'm stood."

"Calm down, then call her," Abbey explained softly. "I'm just as shocked as you are, but Zoey wouldn't have married this man if she didn't love him, you know that just as well as I do."

"They got married in Vegas for Christ's sake." President Bartlet snapped as he threw the newspaper across the room. "Did you know Zoey was into this, this Trek stuff?"

"She took Latin at high school Jed," Abbey smiled at him. "She speaks it almost as fluently as her Italian."

"What does that have to do with anything?" President Bartlet asked, turning to face his wife fully.

"Our daughter is a geek Mr President," Abbey laughed at the shocked look on his face. "Are you telling me you didn't notice that she grew up watching Buck Rogers, Star Trek and every other piece of science fiction she could get her hands on?"

"I… I… I didn't realise…" President Bartlet answered as he tried to dredge up memories of Zoey in her teenage years, it wasn't that long ago but the more he thought about it, the more he realised that during her high school years, he was either campaigning as Governor or was working on his presidential election campaign. "Zoey's a geek?" He asked again in a small voice.

"You didn't hear some of the discussions she and Charlie had." Abbey stifled a small laugh as she remembered hearing Zoey talk about them.

"Charlie's a geek too?" President Bartlet asked in disbelief.

"Not as much as our little girl," Abbey smiled at him. "Maybe you should make some time to talk to her, not argue, but talk to her, get to know her."

"I know my little girl." President Bartlet defended himself.

"What's her favourite type of music?" Abbey argued back playfully with a small smile.

"Classical, like her old man." President Bartlet answered without hesitation.

"A nineteen year old girl listening to classical music, are you sure about that?" Abbey asked with a wry smile as a knock resounded on the door.

"Come in." President Bartlet answered the knock gruffly.

"Mr President," Leo nodded as he opened the doors and walked in before closing the behind him.

"Leo, did you know Zoey was a geek?" President Bartlet asked seriously as he watched Leo enter the room fully.

"No sir, I did not," Leo answered simply.

"Fine," President Bartlet waved the comment away. "What have you found out?"

"We found out the name of your daughters new husband," Leo said simply, opening up the manila folder he was carrying. "Alexander Lavelle Harris, born December twenty ninth, nineteen eighty one."

"Lavelle?" President Bartlet asked in amusement.

"Sir," Leo frowned. "There's a complication."

"Tell me he's not a republican." President Bartlet glared over.

"We have no records of him voting." Leo answered with disdain. "I can tell you where he was born and went to school though."

"Why's that important?" Abbey asked, curious about the man Zoey had married but unsure as to why Leo was bringing this information to them personally.

"Alexander was born in Sunnydale," Leo said simply.

"Oh god," President Bartlet muttered as he sat down at the desk beside him. "Do the press know?"

"If I do, you can bet they'll find out sooner or later." Leo nodded calmly. "They'll be linking the stories of the Sunnydale Catastrophe and the marriage soon."

"Get Zoey on the phone now, I need to speak to her." President Bartlet frowned. "Screw that, I want to be there, get her on the phone then arrange transport to Las Vegas."

"Yes Mr President." Leo nodded simply before moving to the phone stationed by the main doors to the residence and entering the code to have him patched through to Charlie.

"I'll start packing," Abbey said simply as she moved off to get all the things that they would need for some time in Las Vegas ready.

* * *

><p>"This… uh… this isn't exactly what I had planned for a trip to Vegas." Xander started to explain as he came out of the bathroom, the jeans and shirt he was wearing were pretty much everything that he had now, literally, after Sunnydale sunk into the Hellmouth, taking his house and all his belongings with it, he could really appreciate the irony of the words 'escaped with only the shirt on your back', well, with pants as well of course. "Wow…" He breathed out as he looked at the woman that was sat on the bed smiling at him. "I'm sorry, I mean… wow…"<p>

"Why thank you," Zoey smiled up at him. Truth be told she was wearing only a simple pair of jeans and red cotton top, but the top was one of her favourites and she knew she looked good in it, if she did say so herself.

"So… uh… I guess we should talk right?" Xander smiled softly as he moved to the spare chair in the room and swung it around to sit on it backwards, so he could lean on the back of the chair and face Zoey at the same time.

"One question first," Zoey said simply, then continued when Xander nodded. "Did you open the door to the reporters naked or did I imagine that part?"

"Oh god," Xander muttered as he dropped his head to head butt the back of the chair. "Can this get any worse?"

"You mean the fact that we got married drunk, the reporters obviously know about it, so you can bet my dad does now as well, and now the reporters have a photo of you answering the door naked, with me in just my panties on the bed behind you?" Zoey grimaced, summing up the night and morning's events so far and flushing red as she thought about them again.

"Oh god," Xander muttered again, hanging his head as low as it could go. "How bad have I screwed up, you know, on a scale of one to ten?"

"I think we both rate about a…" Zoey trailed off as the cell phone started ringing on the bed. "I should…" She explained as she picked up the cell and saw the caller ID displayed prominently on the screen. "It's my dad."

"I'm dead…" Xander muttered. "I'll, uh, give you some privacy." Xander said as he motioned to the door.

"Don't go out there!" Zoey shouted as she flipped open the phone.

"Zoey Patricia Bartlet!"

Zoey instantly pulled the phone away from her ear as the volume of her father's voice rang through the room. "I'd say he's angry." Zoey winced as she slowly brought the phone back to her ear.

"Oh great, the most powerful man in the world is angry, and I just married his daughter, drunk…" Xander muttered to himself as he leaned on the room door and started head-butting it.

"Dad… listen… I can explain…" Zoey started slowly, listening to the phone and staring down at the photo of her at the wedding chapel with Alexander.

* * *

><p>"Mr President, they're ready for you." Leo announced from the doorway once the President had put down the phone, he'd done his best not to listen to any of the actual call, but could tell from the face of the President that the call with Zoey hadn't exactly gone well.<p>

"Good," President Bartlet sighed as he grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair where he'd thrown it during the phone call. "She was drunk, can you believe that?" He glared at Leo when no response came.

"She said it was a mistake Jed, she apologised." Abbey explained, having been in on the conversation as well.

"I could kill her," President Bartlet muttered before sighing again. "She'll be waiting for us in Las Vegas, I expect with a better explanation than 'I drank too much', or god I hope so anyway."

"We have a press conference scheduled for zero nine hundred; CJ's going to do her best to put a positive spin on this." Leo explained the plan so far. "How long has Zoey known Alexander?"

"She met him last night." President Bartlet snapped as he led the way out of the residence and along the corridor to the main stairs leading down. "She didn't even know him before that."

"And what are their plans now?" Leo asked frankly, not wanting to bring the President's wrath upon himself but needing the answers to the questions the press would undoubtedly ask.

"That's what we're going to find out." President Bartlet frowned back. "This isn't good is it Leo?" He asked quietly after checking that his wife wasn't in ear shot.

"I only see two options here Mr President." Leo answered honestly. "They stay married, or get divorced."

"She's nineteen, nearly twenty; divorce shouldn't be a word in her vocabulary yet." President Bartlet glared over. "She hasn't even graduated university yet."

"I agree," Leo replied calmly. "Divorce would be a scandal, Alexander is a Sunnydale refugee and with the public polls already swinging against us…" Leo trailed off not wanting to finish the sentence.

"She's my daughter Leo, not a political bargaining chip." President Bartlet snapped.

"I understand that sir, but the public opinion won't." Leo explained softly. "We already have problems with the family values polling after the MS story was released, having a divorced daughter might push even the hardest democrat votes away."

"The latest polls say most of them think divorce is morally acceptable anyway," President Bartlet explained himself as they continued walking towards the main doors where the presidential limousine was waiting for them.

"Morally acceptable and morally right are two different things Mr President." Leo explained as the secret service agent waiting at the limousine opened the back door for the President and the First Lady to climb in.

"We'll finish this later." President Bartlet said as Leo nodded. "I'll see you aboard?"

"Sam, Charlie, Toby and Josh are already on route, I'll be right behind you." Leo said, nodding to the car parked behind the secret service agents on motorbikes that separated the presidential limousine from the rest of the motorcade.

"Alright, let's go." President Bartlet nodded as the agent closed the limousine door and the large limousine stared to drive away from the White House.

* * *

><p>"He's coming here." Zoey said softly, looking over to where Xander was sitting. Half way through the conversation he's slumped down the door and was now sat leaning against it. "He wants to meet you."<p>

"He wants to kill me," Xander muttered with his head in his hands.

"I'm sure it won't be that bad," Zoey tried to reassure him. "You voted for him right?"

Xander looked up at her as if she was mad for a second before laughing to himself. "Didn't really vote, at all."

"Well at least you're not a republican," Zoey laughed back at him, trying to find a light side to this mess. "Then he would have been mad."

"So I'm a step up from a republican, is that good or bad?" Xander asked, honestly never have really given politics much notice before.

"Depends who you ask." Zoey answered honestly. "Do you have any other clothes?" She asked after a moment, looking down at his scruffy jeans and worn shirt.

"Uh, no?" Xander answered honestly, he hadn't really thought about it before, figuring he'd get something sorted by the time they hit Cleveland.

"You're going to need them." Zoey frowned. "Unless you want to meet the President in jeans and shirt."

"Bad first impression?" Xander asked softly.

"He's my dad." Zoey said simply. "He's the President; he prides appearance as impeccable in public."

"Oh god," Xander dropped his head again. "Getting a divorce then? There must be somewhere around here that would do it for us, an annulment or whatever they call it?"

"We should talk to my dad first." Zoey sighed. "It's complicated; you don't follow politics at all right?"

"Not even the funny cartoons in papers," Xander sighed as he banged his head backwards against the door. "Oh god, the President, he's coming here!"

"That's what I said," Zoey nodded, thinking the shock of meeting the President of the United States was finally sinking in to Alexander.

"No, no, no, bad, very bad, seriously bad." Xander was almost shouting as he stood up and started pacing the room. "I've got to tell my friends." He explained as he started towards the door.

"You can't," Zoey said with a long suffering sigh. "The reporters remember, they'll be camped out there just waiting for a photo of us."

"I've got to tell my friends," Xander said agitatedly as he moved over to the bed and picked up the phone from the bedside table. "Room three oh one please." He said as the hotel operator picked up the phone on the other end of the line. "Please be up, please be up." He chanted to himself as he looked at the clock reading eight forty two in the morning. "Pick up Buffy, pick up…" He continued to mutter as the phone continued to ring.

"Ughh… what?"

"Yes!" Xander shouted as Buffy's voice came over the phone. "Buffy, badness, big badness."

"Xander?" Buffy's voice came back. "Do you know what time is it?" Buffy asked groggily.

"Buffy, get everyone, you all need to get out of here now!" Xander said urgently, pressing the matter as much as he could.

"What's wrong?" Buffy's voice came a bit clearer now as the urgency in Xander's voice woke her up.

"I've done something stupid, like monumentally stupid." Xander explained quickly before turning to Zoey. "How long until he gets here?"

"He said he was leaving as soon as he got off the phone," Zoey explained, trying to figure out what the problem with Alexander's friends was. "Maybe four hours, if that."

"You need to get everyone out Buffy, call Giles, get everyone back to the bus." Xander explained.

"What's going on Xander?" Buffy's voice came across tinged with worry. "What's happened?"

"I… uh… I kinda got married last night," Xander winced as the scream of 'what' echoed down the phone. "Yeah, I know, Willow can hit me later alright, but you all have to get out of town now."

"Xander, we only just got here, the hotel is booked for three more days." Buffy explained. "Now, back to the wedding thing, you got married and didn't tell us, who to, it wasn't Faith was it?"

"Buffy, you don't have time." Xander said firmly, putting the protection of his friends above anything else at the moment. "You remember the Initiative?"

"You married Riley!" Buffy's voice screeched across the line. "Is that even legal?"

"Not Riley, his boss's daughter." Xander sighed as he sat on the bed and waited for the demand for an explanation.

"Professor Walsh had a daughter?" Buffy asked, a bit confused.

"Higher up." Xander muttered as he looked at the photo of him and Zoey getting married, despite the fact that they were most obviously drunk, he had to admit they actually looked happy together.

"Higher?" Buffy asked. "General Whatshisface that Riley was always talking about?"

"Higher, much higher," Xander winced. "Last night I got married to the President's daughter." He waited for a moment as there was a soft thud that came through the line. "Buffy, buffy are you there?" He waited for a few more moments until a sound of fabric scraping along the phone came back. "Buffy?"

"Xander?" Willow's voice came over the phone this time.

"Willow, where's Buffy?" Xander asked quickly.

"I think she just fell off the bed, what did you tell her?" Willow asked calmly.

"Willow, we don't have time. Get everyone and get out of town, now." Xander said firmly.

"But… but… the pool, and food… and shopping for clothes…" Willow's voice came over the line pleadingly.

"Let me," Zoey said softly as she reached out for the phone Xander was holding. "Hello?"

"Hello?" Willow's voice came back. "Who's this and what are you doing in Xander's room?"

"Xander?" Zoey asked, looking over at Alexander. "Right, Xander, short for Alexander."

"Only his mom calls him that, he's Xander." Willow explained. "And who are you?"

"According to the papers we have here, I'm his wife." Zoey winced as she said the 'wife' word, the reality of it really starting to sink in now.

"You got married to Xander?" Willow's voice screeched down the line.

"Apparently so, from the photo I've got it looks like Captain Kirk married us sometime last night," Zoey winced again as she realised how bad this was actually going to look to her dad.

"You got married to Xander by Captain Kirk?" Willow's voice came back, dripping of disbelief.

"Alexan… Xander seems to think you should all get out of Las Vegas for some reason. I take it you're his friends right?" Zoey asked softly.

"I've known him all my life," Willow said firmly.

"My dad's coming here now, he wants to meet Xander and get me to explain what happened." Zoey explained the situation.

"Your dad?" Willow asked, confused at the change in conversation.

"I'm Zoey Bartlet," Zoey said softly.

"Bartlet…" Willow's voice whispered over the phone. "Zoey Bartlet? As in the youngest daughter of…"

"The President of the United States," Zoey finished off with a small sigh. She was used to people reacting in a variety of different ways to the knowledge of who she was, everything from hatred through envy to adoration, and every single one of them annoyed her. She just wanted to be treated like everyone else, not have people buttering her up because of who her dad was.

"Holy Hannah," Willow whispered. "You married Xander?"

"I did," Zoey blushed as she answered softly.

"How do you even know Xander, you're like rich, your dad's the President, how have you even met Xander before?" Willow asked, still in shock at the revelation.

"Hold on…" Zoey said softly as Xander held out his hand to take the phone back.

"Willow?" Xander asked once Zoey had given him the phone. "Willow, listen to me, you have to get everyone out, now."

"But… the President?" Willow's voice came back softly.

"Is on his way now, probably with guards and agents and god knows what…" Xander trailed off.

"Oh god, the…" Willow started but was cut off by Xander when he realised what she was going to say.

"Yeah, do you want the President and whoever else to be introduced to our youngest members?" Xander said, knowing Willow would put together the connection between him saying 'youngest members' and the new Slayers that were now all over this floor of the hotel.

"Oh god, we have to get out of here." Willow practically yelled down the phone.

"That's what I've been saying." Xander reiterated his point. "Get Giles on the phone, explain everything, just get everyone out."

"But what about you?" Willow asked over the phone, worry tinting her voice now as she realised how deep this was likely to get if they were all still here when the President got to Las Vegas.

"I'll catch up with you when I can, I'll find you Willow." Xander said firmly. "Just get everyone out and I'll do what I can here."

* * *

><p>"Mr President," Sam Seaborne stood up, along with Charlie and Josh as President Bartlet strode through the main area of Air Force one with Leo behind him.<p>

"What have we got?" President Bartlet asked as calmly as he could as he took a seat opposite where his three senior staff were still stood.

"Zoey Bartlet and Alexander Lavelle Harris were married last night and twenty three fourteen Pacific standard by, and I can't believe I'm saying this out loud, Reverend James Tiberius Kirk of the Hilton Hotel Wedding Chapel." Sam explained almost in disbelief.

"I had a hard time swallowing that one myself," President Bartlet explained with a grimace. "Tell me what we know about Mr Harris."

"Not much sir," Charlie explained as he opened a separate file. "Born December twenty ninth to Anthony and Jessica Harris, one older brother who was taken by social services before Alexander was born, Anthony and Jessica were investigated for abuse and found to be unfit parents, resident of Sunnydale California, no police record though he was investigated once for breaking into a weapons depot in Sunnydale."

"Breaking in to a weapons depot?" President Bartlet asked as his eyebrows nearly collided with his hairline.

"Yes sir," Charlie explained. "I've having people look into it now sir, but it looks to me like…"

"Give that here," President Bartlet said as he reached over and took the file from Charlie's hands. "This is all the information we have on this man?"

"It looks that way Mr President." Sam explained with a nod.

"This has been cleaned," President Bartlet said simply. "I know cleaning work when I see it, and this stinks of it. Leo, find out who did this and why, I want to know the real story on Alexander Harris."

"I'll have some guys dig around." Leo said with a nod.

"Cleaned sir?" Sam asked, looking at the copy of the file he had in front of him, it looked pretty ordinary to him, driver's license, school information, workplace, residence, all the usual information he would expect to see in a file like this.

"Cleaned, sterilised, blacked out." President Bartlet explained. "Is someone was investigated for breaking into a military depot, there would be more information than this, photos, records of conversations, reasons why the investigation started or stopped." President Bartlet slammed the folder shut in his hands. "Whoever cleaned this didn't do a very good job of it, and I want to know why."

"Yes sir," Sam nodded in agreement.

"Military record?" President Bartlet asked, turning to Josh this time.

"Not that we can find, no record of Alex Harris, Alexander Harris or any other abbreviation I could think of. As far as we can see he's had no contact with any branch of the military." Josh explained simply.

"Yet he was investigated for breaking into a military depot just outside of Sunnydale." President Bartlet said softly. "What was the investigation for exactly?"

"Um…" Josh frowned as he found the correct paragraph in the folder. "Theft of a M twenty A one slash A one B one." Josh read off the list with a confused look on his face. "Complete with two M two eight A two pieces."

"That's some heavy hardware." President Bartlet frowned in thought.

"Do any of you have any idea what that alphabet soup actually means?" Josh asked quietly, looking at Charlie and Sam for an explanation.

"It's a shoulder mounted rocket launcher," Leo said calmly. "A bazooka to use a colloquial term, three point five inch rocket propelled grenades, weighing in at about fourteen to fifteen pounds."

"He stole a bazooka?" Josh asked in shock.

"We don't know," Leo said simply. "The investigation isn't in his file; no mention of his name came up on any other database search."

"Like I said, he's been cleaned." President Bartlet explained with a frown. "Find out who cleaned him and why, I want to know everything, I want to know why he was investigated for this and who called it off, if it was called off. Find out any agency ties he has and what he does for them, hell, find out what this guy had for breakfast and what size pants he wears."

"I'll get some guys on it now." Leo said with a nod as he stood up and moved to the rear of the plane where the communications suite was kept.

"Sam, I'm going to need an explanation to give to the press about this, I want you and Toby to come up with something that'll settle them down and give me the room I need." President Bartlet explained, looking at Sam and Toby in turn. "Sickly sweet, proud father blah blah blah, just get them off my case while I figure out what the hell my daughter was thinking of."

"We're on it." Sam nodded as he stood up and led the way to a quiet area of the plane with Toby following him.

"And Charlie," President Bartlet turned to the one member of his senior staff that was left in the area with him. "I know this must be hard for you son, you going to be alright?"

"Me and Zoey broke up over six months ago sir, I can handle this." Charlie answered with a nod.

"Good, because I'm going to need you to stop me from wringing this guy's neck if it turns out he took advantage of my little girl." President Bartlet all but snarled over.

"Yes sir," Charlie nodded quickly.

"Good," President Bartlet sighed as he poured a glass of water from the pitcher on the desk next to him. "Charlie, what sort of music does Zoey like?"

"Sorry sir?" Charlie asked, a bit thrown by the question.

"What music does she like, you know, classical, opera, that sort of thing." President Bartlet clarified his question.

"She likes country sir." Charlie answered after a moment's thought.

"Country?" President Bartlet asked in a bit of shock.

"Yes sir." Charlie nodded back.

"As in cowboys and line dancing?" President Bartlet asked, trying to figure out if he'd ever seen any indication of Zoey every enjoying country and western music before.

"Yes sir," Charlie nodded again. "Last Christmas I got her an autographed album from Terri Clarke, the Pain to Kill album is one of her favourite's sir."

"I didn't know that," President Bartlet said in amusement as he tried to picture Zoey line dancing.

"Her favourite song is Emotional Girl sir," Charlie explained with a small smile.

"And she's a Trekkie?" President Bartlet asked, trying to figure out if he ever actually knew Zoey at all with all this new information that he was finding out.

"I think she prefers Babylon five sir," Charlie laughed quietly.

"We're going to have a long talk soon Charlie," President Bartlet said as he took a sip of water. "And you're going to tell me everything you know about Zoey, everything that it seems I don't know."

"Yes sir," Charlie nodded quickly.

"Country," President Bartlet muttered to himself as he stood up and started walking back to the area of the plane where Abbey would have gone to sit in peace and quiet.

* * *

><p>"We can't stay in here forever." Zoey said quietly as she looked at Xander where he was still sat against the door.<p>

"Room service, cable, what's not to love?" Xander quipped back with a small smile.

"Aside from the fact you need some clothes before my dad gets here?" Zoey asked in amusement. "And I need to get changed, unless you want to explain to him why I'm wearing the same clothes from yesterday?"

"Ok, new clothes important, gotcha." Xander quickly nodded in agreement.

"Your friends don't like the President?" Zoey asked after a moment, thinking back on the phone call she'd had with him and his friends.

"They're not exactly fans of the company that he comes with," Xander answered as honestly as he could, the idea of Buffy or any other Slayers coming to the President's attention wasn't something he relished thinking about. He wasn't even sure if the President even knew about Slayers or anything else, while he knew The Initiative knew now, that didn't mean the President knew, he'd watched enough X-files to know that the President didn't always know what the various agencies were doing under his nose.

"Any particular reason?" Zoey asked, fishing for a bit more information about Xander and his friends.

"Bad history," Xander said simply.

"With politicians?" Zoey asked in amusement.

"Politicians, lawyers, military, principals… do you want the full list?" Xander smirked over to her.

"I get the picture," Zoey smiled back. "You think you can brave the cameras yet?"

"Oh yeah, that'll be fun," Xander muttered sarcastically. "Let's see, the first photo they have of me is naked with you in the background, and we have to face them again?"

"Unless you want my dad to come here and get an explanation in private?" Zoey asked with a grimace.

"Is the boarder still open?" Xander grimaced back. "Because I hear Mexico's great this time of year."

"Come on, they're not that scary," Zoey smiled at him as she stood up from the bed and moved to offer him a hand standing up. "Just keep saying 'no comment' and don't give them anything more to write about."

"No comment, no comment," Xander repeated to himself as he took Zoey's hand and stood up. "Ok, no comment, I can do that."

"You're sure?" Zoey asked as she grabbed her handbag and tucked it under her arm.

"Is no a valid answer?" Xander asked with a wince as Zoey moved to open the door.

"Not really," Zoey half smiled at him as she took his head and lead him out into the corridor where camera flashes and microphones immediately bombarded both of them.

* * *

><p>"So, what have you got?" President Bartlet asked Leo as he watched the older man walk towards him, they've been in the air for about two hours now and with everyone rushing around with the tasks he'd assigned to them he was spending the time wisely talking with his wife and trying to keep calm over the situation with Zoey.<p>

"I think we should talk in private Mr President." Leo said quietly, acknowledging Abbey's presence on the plain.

"Military record?" President Bartlet asked as he stood up.

"Not as such sir," Leo explained as he followed the President down the corridor of Air Force One to one of the secure rooms available.

"Well, what is it?" President Bartlet asked as he entered the room and Leo closed the door tightly behind him.

"I think this is one of those times when it sounds worse than it really is Mr President," Leo started as the President sat down at one of the desks. "Now, I don't have the full story yet, I have people working on declassifying the project as we speak."

"A classified military project?" President Bartlet asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Highly classified, I can only think of three other projects that even come close to this amount of secrecy sir." Leo explained with a frown. "From what I can gather so far, an operation in Sunnydale between the United States Army and the NSA."

"The National Security Agency had an operation in Sunnydale?" President Bartlet asked. "And we're only just finding out about this?"

"The operation was mothballed sir," Leo explained. "Covered up so dark I doubt the paperwork still exists on this thing."

"That bad huh?" President Bartlet asked with a wince.

"Yes sir," Leo nodded as he sat down opposite the President. "The NSA have covered this so completely I don't even have a name for the project, other than its military designation of Lilac."

"What was its purpose?" President Bartlet asked.

"We don't know," Leo answered simply. "Most of what we want to know, the NSA won't tell us, and the army doesn't know."

"Then what can you tell me?" President Bartlet asked with a frown.

"That Project Lilac was based in Sunnydale California, operating from June ninety nine until mid-two thousand when it was shut down, classified above presidential level and disbanded." Leo explained sharply.

"You're telling me the NSA had a project going for less than a year?" President Bartlet asked in disbelief.

"Oh it gets better sir," Leo said wryly. "Early reports indicate that Project Lilac had a minimum of eight hundred and fifty military personnel serving under its command, that's military sir, not including scientists or civilian consultants."

"So find one of them and find out what the hell the NSA was doing there." President Bartlet ordered. "This wasn't anything to do with the Sunnydale catastrophe was it? Because I don't want to go on the news saying the NSA destroyed an entire town in southern California."

"As far as we know the NSA and military were nowhere near Sunnydale during the catastrophe," Leo nodded firmly. "And we can't find anyone who served under Project Lilac Mr President."

"What do you mean you can't find anyone, you just said over eight hundred soldiers were stationed there, we must have records of where soldiers served and where they are now." President Bartlet barked out.

"We do, but the soldiers who served under Project Lilac won't be able to tell us anything," Leo answered softly. "Of the eight hundred and fifty men stationed at Project Lilac, we have records of twelve surviving."

"I'm sorry, can you repeat that for me." President Bartlet said in shock.

"From the reports I've been given, eight hundred and fifty men were stationed in Sunnydale California under Project Lilac. Twelve of those men survived and were transferred to NSA direct control Mr President." Leo repeated himself and expanded a bit.

"You're telling me a classified operation in Sunnydale California, the small town that no one had heard about until three days ago, had a mortality rate of nearly one hundred percent?" President Bartlet was nearly shouting by the time he'd finished speaking.

"That's military casualties sir, if these reports are accurate, then all of the NSA agents and civilian consultants who worked on Project Lilac were killed before the project was mothballed Mr President." Leo explained with a wince as President Bartlet went another shade paler. "I'm only finding out about this now sir, but these figures seem to indicate a mortality rate higher than any other secret project, including Project Regattas' ten year run."

"Project what?" President Bartlet asked, knowing full well that Leo's knowledge of military programs far exceeded his own.

"Another time sir," Leo said with a nod.

"And what does this all have to do with Mr Harris?" President Bartlet asked with a frown.

"We don't know," Leo said simply. "The agents who cleaned Mr Harris' file were the ones working to sanitise any mention of Project Lilac, its possible Mr Harris worked for the NSA on Project Lilac or was a consultant of some description in the early stages."

"But he has links with this Project Lilac?" President Bartlet asked firmly.

"We believe so," Leo nodded. "Sir, one more thing, the only reason we have the project name was because it needed presidential sanction to begin with, we tracked the project name down through various files and agendas that were filed during the ninety nine and two thousand campaign years."

"I didn't sign any paperwork to do with Sunnydale, I'd have remembered that." President Bartlet said firmly.

"I know, I'd have recognised it too." Leo nodded firmly.

"Then how did they get presidential sanction?" President Bartlet asked.

"We're working on it." Leo nodded. "But I'm not liking where this is leading us sir."

"Neither am I." President Bartlet frowned. "Keep at it."

"Yes sir," Leo said as he stood up to leave the room. "We'll be landing in just over an hour sir, perhaps you should have the mess find you something to eat."

"I'm fine Leo," President Bartlet smiled over. "Just keep me informed alright?"

"Will do Mr President." Leo nodded before opening the counsel room doors and closing them as he left, leaving President Bartlet alone to think about what they'd just spoken about.

* * *

><p>"You've got to be kidding me!" CJ Shouted through the corridors of the west wing, causing everyone around her to stop what they were doing immediately and look at her to see who she was targeting now. "Inside, now!"<p>

"I came to you first as a courtesy CJ," Greg said quietly as CJ closed the door to her office behind them.

"Where did you get this?" CJ demanded, holding the picture of Mr Harris standing in the doorway of a hotel room naked, the look of shock and horror on his face told her everything they needed to know about the circumstances the picture was taken under, what was more distressing was the sight of Zoey Bartlet on the bed behind Mr Harris, in what looked to be a similar state of undress with the same look of horror on her face.

"It was sent down to the press room about fifteen minutes ago, I came over here as soon as I got it." Greg said firmly. "You know we're not the only ones who are going to have that picture, I'm just the first to come and talk to you about it before it goes to print."

"You can't print this." CJ said firmly.

"It's the editor's decision, not mine," Greg said apologetically. "The photo was taken from outside of the hotel room, no privacy laws were breached and no one spoke to Ms Bartlet in person."

"He'll crucify you for this," CJ said firmly, thinking that President Bartlet might actually declare war on the entire Press industry if this photo went to print.

"It's already leaked to the internet; you can bet it will be on shows by now as well." Greg explained softly. "The first photo of Mr and Mrs Harris, it'll be on front pages everywhere by this afternoon, cropped of course."

"Of course," CJ glared back, hating the fact that she already knew that what Greg was telling her was the truth, if this photo had already been leaked to the internet, then it would be everywhere by the end of the day.

"Do you have an official comment?" Greg asked quietly, not wanting to bring the wrath of the whole White House down on him this early in the morning.

"The White House doesn't comment on the personal lives or relationships of its staff or families." CJ spieled out the rehearsed line like she had done many times before, her eyes never leaving the photo she had in her hands.

"I figured as much," Greg nodded at her.

"If you knew what I was going to say then why did you bring this to me?" CJ asked in annoyance, glaring across the room at Greg.

"To give you a heads up," Greg said with a shrug. "We got news the President is aboard Air Force One heading to Las Vegas right now."

"So?" CJ asked, not following where this was going.

"I think it'd be best if he got the news from one of you, before he sees the photo from some freelancer in Vegas when they land, don't you?" Greg asked, pausing for a moment to let CJ think about it. "You've always done right by me CJ; I'm just returning the favour."

CJ couldn't say anything for the moment, instead just nodded at Greg softly in thanks for what he had done. "Can I keep this?" She asked, motioning to the photo she was still holding.

"It's a copy anyway; use it for whatever you need." Greg nodded at her before he turned to leave the office.

"Thank you," CJ smiled over, causing Greg to pause at the door.

"Remember you owe me one," Greg smiled back before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

CJ just frowned, thinking about how much of a mess this was turning out to be, she had to get in touch with Leo ASAP to warn him about this. Folding the photo in half she tucked it under her arm before leaving the room to head to the communications room, getting a line to Air Force One was going to be tricky at best, and getting sensitive information like this across without the wrong people hearing about it was going to be a nightmare.

* * *

><p>"Why are there so many of them?" Xander asked, his head hanging in defeat as he took several deep breaths, they'd been practically chased out of the hotel by the photographers and journalists, all of them with more embarrassing questions than the one before.<p>

"Paparazzi," Zoey said, breathing as deeply as Xander was. "They're just in it for the money; they take the photos then sell them on to the highest bidder."

"So not journalists?" Xander asked in confusion.

"Freelance journalists," Zoey clarified with a shrug. "Dad calls them bottom feeders; I think he'd just shoot them if he could."

"Thanks for the heads up," Xander nodded as he looked around. "We got away?"

"For the moment," Zoey nodded as she looked around herself. "They would have gone out the front, probably expecting us to get in a car or something, not go through the pool area and out the side."

"Ok, so home free right?" Xander asked hopefully. "They'll just give up and go home right?"

"Not likely," Zoey sighed. "Dad threatened to string up the last paparazzi that followed me around, but I don't think he can go after all of these guys."

"Is it wrong that I'm starting to like your dad?" Xander grinned at her. "The President I mean, you know what I mean right?"

"I know," Zoey laughed for a moment. "We should probably head for the crowds, see if we can get lost in them while heading to clothes stores, it'll give them a harder time following us."

"See, I like this plan," Xander nodded. "Ok, clothes stores, some clean jeans and shirt, gotcha."

"Suit and tie," Zoey said insistently. "He's the President of the country Xander."

"Right, yeah, ok, suit… where do you buy a suit from in Las Vegas?" He asked in amusement.

"Main stores," Zoey said simply. "They sell suits for people attending galas or shows here, we can probably get a nice one, don't have time to get you fitted for one though."

"Fitted?" Xander asked with a raised eyebrow. "Suit store will be fine I think."

"Ok, this way," Zoey nodded as she led Xander down the back street towards where she could see crowds of people moving through the main streets of Las Vegas. "So, tell me about yourself then." She laughed at his fish out of water expression as she let him out into the crowd and towards the main shopping district.

* * *

><p>"Thanks CJ, I'll tell him." Leo said as he hung up the phone in the communications room and stood up from the chair. "Why'd it have to be me?" He muttered to himself rhetorically as he moved out of the communications suite and started back towards the lounge area of Air Force One, for once, and quite happily so, passing through the press section of the plane when it was completely empty.<p>

Most of the plane was empty for this trip thankfully, the press had all been left behind, there were the usual Secret Service agents at their usual stations and patrolling the plane, but aside from the flight crew and the White House senior staff on board, the plane was unusually quiet.

"Sam," Leo nodded in greeting as he walked into the quiet area of the plane where Sam and Toby had been working. "Where's Toby?"

"Gone to get a sandwich or something," Sam answered simply. "What do you think of this," Sam paused as he lifted up the paper he was working on and turned to face Leo completely. "Zoey is my youngest daughter, the daughter I still have hopes and dreams for; she will always be her own woman just as she will always be my youngest child. I wish Zoey all the best in her new life and look forward to spending time with her and her new family in the days to come."

"Kind of pretentious don't you think?" Leo asked after a moment's consideration.

"Tone it down a bit?" Sam asked patiently.

"Just a few notches," Leo nodded. "While this is about Zoey, we can't have the President showing favouritism over his other daughters. Remember to emphasise family values and how strongly the President feels about bringing families together."

"They were married in a drunken ceremony Leo," Toby said from the back as he walked towards where they were talking, a sandwich and mug of coffee in hand. "I don't think we're going to be able to spin this one to the family values crowd."

"We need their vote," Leo said simply. "Just emphasise the fact that it doesn't matter how relationships start, it's the emotions and feelings that hold them together."

"You're going to be the one to tell the President that," Toby frowned over.

"Don't I know it," Leo sighed. "And tie in with Sunnydale while you're at it, the press are going to make the connection sooner or later anyway, just say that like Mr Harris many Americans lost their lives and livelihoods in the Sunnydale Catastrophe, work in how he's moving on and making a better life for himself, the usual stuff."

"Gotcha," Sam nodded as he scribbled some notes down about what Leo was talking about. "We got any more to go on on this guy yet?"

"Nothing that I can tell either of you," Leo said with a shrug. "I'm having trouble declassifying anything at the moment, and now I've got CJ telling me there's a leaked picture of the happy couple naked in their hotel room."

"He's going to hit the roof," Toby said simply, thinking about President Barlet's reaction to the press when Ellie spoke to the press without his consent during the Surgeon General problems.

"The press invaded their hotel room?" Sam asked in shock.

"Photo was taken from outside the room," Leo explained. "Story is Mr Harris here opened the door naked, paparazzi got photos of him naked and Zoey on the bed behind him."

"He's going to kill the photographers," Toby commented idly.

"You think I don't know that?" Leo shot back with a glare. "I just hope he doesn't decide to shoot the messenger."

"Good luck," Sam smiled at him as he jotted down a few more things he'd just thought of.

"Thanks, think I'm going to need it." Leo sighed as he continued walking to the front of the plane where President Bartlet was sat talking with Charlie.

"I'm telling you, Zoey used to love classical music when she was younger, she used to sit on my knee listening to Bach when I got home from a long day." President Bartlet smiled at the memory as he told Charlie the story.

"I don't dispute that sir, she might still enjoy Bach, but her dancing preferences lean more towards Terri Clarke and Shania Twain now, not excluding Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson of course." Charlie explained.

"Excuse me Charlie," Leo said as he approached the discussion. "Mr President, might I have a word with you for a minute."

"Sure," President Bartlett said with a nod, dismissing Charlie for the moment.

"I'll be in the back forward," Charlie said as he stood up and left Leo and President Bartlet alone.

"Make sure no one disturbs us," Leo said firmly as Charlie moved away from them.

"Yes sir," Charlie nodded as he came to an intersection in the corridor and pulled a curtain across before taking a seat by the side of it.

"What's going on?" President Bartlet asked as Leo moved to the bar at the far end of the plane where a stewardess was cleaning up.

"We're going to need some privacy here," Leo said, catching the stewardess' attention and dismissing her from the area.

"Have you found something new out?" President Bartlet asked as he stood up and moved to where Leo was stood at the bar area.

"Nothing new on Project Lilac Mr President, I have people digging into the hole as we speak though." Leo explained as he moved behind the bar and fished out a decanter that held a soft amber liquid.

"A little early for drinking Leo," President Bartlet frowned, knowing Leo was a recovering alcoholic and his reaching for a bottle was never a good sign.

"It's not for me," Leo said calmly as he poured out a generous measure of the whiskey in the decanter.

"You're worrying me Leo," President Bartlet said as he sat on one of the stools that were placed against the serving station.

"Me both," Leo said as he placed the glass of whiskey in front of the President. "I just had a call from CJ; we got a heads up from a reporter at the Informer." Leo took a deep breath before continuing and wished he could take the glass of whiskey for himself at this point. "Mr President, a photo has come to their attention with Mr Harris and your daughter in a compromising position."

"What!" President Bartlet screamed out, slamming his hands down on the bar.

"The photo was taken from outside of the hotel room when Mr Harris unwittingly opened the door to the paparazzi." Leo explained before his courage deserted him.

"Mr Harris opened the door to paparazzi, is he a complete idiot?" President Bartlet shouted.

"That's what we're trying to figure out sir," Leo said with a nod. "It seems Mr Harris wasn't aware of the paparazzi's presence and opened the door wearing less than favourable clothing."

"Less than favourable?" President Bartlet asked slowly.

"He opened the hotel room door naked Mr President," Leo said simply, thinking that it was best not to sugar coat this any more than absolutely necessary.

"I'm going to need a drink," President Bartlet said with a suffering sigh.

"I thought you might sir," Leo said as he motioned to the glass of whiskey.

"The press have a photo of my daughter's new husband answering the door naked?" President Bartlet asked after taking a mouthful of the whiskey.

"Yes sir," Leo nodded.

"We can safely assume that the man is either an idiot or an exhibitionist then." President Bartlet said as he took another mouthful before looking at Leo. "There's more?"

"Yes sir," Leo said, bracing himself. "The photo we're talking about also shows your daughter on the bed behind him."

"Tell me she wasn't naked Leo." President Bartlet all but begged Leo for the news he wanted to hear.

"She wasn't," Leo said reassuringly. "CJ informs me that while the picture is out of focus for her, the primary focus seems to have been on Mr Harris answering the door, it's clear she is wearing underwear and is covering herself from being photographed."

"The paparazzi have a photo of my youngest daughter in her underwear?" President Bartlet all but screamed.

"An out of focus one, yes Mr President." Leo said with a nod. "Would you like another drink sir?"

"Keep them coming." President Bartlet said as he downed the rest of the whiskey in the glass in one go before turning back to Leo. "Can we contain the photo?"

"That's what I asked Mr President, CJ doesn't seem to think so, she believes the photo has already been leaked to the media and is online already."

"Jesus Christ," President Bartlet sighed as Leo poured some more whiskey into the glass. "Does Abbey know?"

"No sir, I only just got off the phone with CJ myself." Leo answered simply.

"How bad is it?" President Bartlet asked as he took another sip of the whiskey.

"Well CJ says Mr Harris is a very handsome man, and the eye patch appears to be real." Leo answered half seriously. "He also appears to be religious."

"Leo," President Bartlet warned him with his name.

"This is the first photo after the wedding the press have of them together Mr President, containment options are practically zero at this point." Leo answered honestly. "The only bright side we actually have is that the respectable papers will only be able to print certain sections of the image without breaching decency regulations, it may be that your daughter's image is cropped out altogether."

"She wouldn't be on display like that?" President Bartlet asked hopefully.

"I haven't seen the image myself sir, so I can't comment on that, but depending on how the image is cropped and what level of decency the paper strives for, it's a possibility." Leo answered diplomatically.

"And the papers that aren't so reputable?" President Bartlet asked after a deep breath.

"Will display the full image, probably censored somewhat but most of the image will appear." Leo said with a grimace.

"I should tell Abbey," President Bartlet said as he stood up from his seat.

"Sir," Leo stopped him as he handed over a pack of mints from his pocket.

"Thank you," President Bartlet said as he tapped a few of the mints out. "This is going to be a political nightmare isn't it?"

"If it's any consolation sir, your votes in the teenage and twenties categories might have gone up, if they feel they can identify with Mr Harris and your daughter getting married." Leo said simply. "Also you may swing a few more liberal votes your way after this; it may even cover the loss of the family values crowd."

"Are you trying to cheer me up Leo?" President Bartlet said with a glare.

"No sir, I wouldn't dream of it." Leo said with a small smile.

"Good, I hate being cheered up." President Bartlet said as he handed the mints back. "Tell the Secret Service to expect a disturbance from wherever Abbey is, but no one is to disturb us until we're done, got that?"

"Yes sir," Leo nodded as he watched President Bartlet move off towards the back section of the plane like a man going to meet his doom.

* * *

><p>"I hate this," Xander muttered to himself as Zoey let him through aisle after aisle of suits, shirts and ties.<p>

"The shopping or getting chased by the paparazzi?" Zoey asked as she held up another soft blue shirt over Xander's chest to see how it would look on him.

"Both?" Xander said with a shrug.

"You want to look good for meeting him right?" Zoey asked softly.

"I don't want him to have the secret service kill me on sight," Xander answered honestly.

"Then the first step is getting you dressed properly for it," Zoey answered as she put the shirt back and pulled out a soft green one instead. "Yes, green is definitely your colour."

"Anya used to say that," Xander said softly as he held the shirt Zoey had handed to him.

"Anya?" Zoey asked quietly.

"My ex… she… she died, a few days ago." Xander said softly, remembering setting a memorial marker aside for her in Angeles National Park.

"I'm sorry," Zoey said with honest compassion in her voice. "Was… was it sudden?"

"She died trying to get out of Sunnydale." Xander said simply, not wanting to elaborate on the fact that she'd died saving the world from the First Evil.

"You're from Sunnydale?" Zoey asked in shock.

"Last train out," Xander nodded. "Or bus actually I guess."

"My god… then that… you lost everything there…" Zoey said, covering her mouth with her hand to hide the shock that was covering her face.

"Hence the dirty clothes," Xander shrugged with a half-smile as he tugged at the shirt he was wearing. "Not exactly meeting the leader of the free world kind of clothing right?"

"I don't think he goes for flannel much," Zoey countered with a small smile.

"I kinda like the lumberjack pirate look," Xander grinned back at her.

"We should go," Zoey said after checking her watch. "He'll probably be landing in less than an hour."

"Oh god," Xander muttered to himself as he moved towards the checkout with the plain black suit Zoey had picked out for him along with the green shirt she'd just handed him.

"You'll be fine," Zoey said with a smile, trying to comfort him as she followed him towards the counter.

"Easy for you to say," Xander grimaced as he watched the woman at the counter smile emptily at him as she started to ring up the items he'd given her.

"We'll make a quick stop at my hotel, if you grab some shaving stuff you can have a wash and shave there before we go and meet him." Zoey explained as she tossed a plain black tie on top of the shirt ready for the woman to add to the pile of clothing.

"Furry?" Xander asked as he rubbed at his face, truth was he hadn't actually had a shave since Caleb had gouged his eye out, which had been nearly three weeks ago so he could guess he was more than a little rugged by now.

"I've seen worse," Zoey smiled as she rubbed the side of his face with her hand. "Here, I'll get these." She said as the woman finished totalling up the clothes and started bagging them up.

"You don't have to…" Xander started as he moved to get his wallet from his back pocket.

"I want to," Zoey smiled at him as she handed over her credit card to the sales assistant. "You're not used to women paying for things for you right?"

"Actually Anya always took care of the money as well," Xander said with a smile, remembering the good times he had with Anya. It was because of her that he had such a good stock portfolio at his age, to say nothing of the savings bonds she'd invested in for him.

"So don't worry about it," Zoey smiled at him as he picked up the bags from the counter. "Come on, we should get your shaving stuff from the hotel lobby, that way we don't risk running in to any more cameras."

Xander just nodded simply as she led him out of the store and back along the street where they'd come from. They were nearly ten yards or so away from the store when a shout from behind them caused Xander to spin around in shock.

"Yo, Xand!"

"Faith?" Xander asked in shock, turning around to see the sultry brunette running down the sidewalk towards them. "Oh god," He muttered as he sunk his face into his hands.

"Yo Xand, what's the what?" Faith grinned as she slowed down to a jog as she approached the two of them.

"You weren't in your room this morning were you?" Xander asked with a sigh, dragging his hand down his face.

"Nah, ain't been back there yet," Faith said with a shrug. "Who's the new girl?"

"Zoey," Zoey said with a smile as she introduced herself. "You know Xander?"

"Shit yeah, what, 'bout five years or sommet'." Faith shrugged as she fished a packet of cigarettes out of her pocket and lit one up. "What's going on, tried to call B and hotel says they all checked out aside from you."

"One second Zoey," Xander smiled over at the woman he was now married to before leading Faith away from her for a moment. "Faith, you should get out of town, now." He whispered urgently.

"What's going on, some new big bad or something?" Faith whispered back.

"I screwed up," Xander said after taking a deep breath. "Last night, we must have got drunk or something, because when I woke up this morning… look, me and Zoey got married last night." He said simply, forgoing any large explanation for his actions.

"No shit!" Faith grinned at him. "Yo girl, he treatin' you right right?"

"Faith," Xander grimaced as he pulled her attention back to him before Zoey could reply. "It's not exactly that simple."

"What, think you're the only guy that came to Vegas and got married half cut?" Faith grinned at him. "Sorry man, happens weekly or some shit around here."

"Do they all marry the daughter of the President of the country?" Xander bit out in a whisper, glaring at Faith to tell her he was serious.

"You're fuckin' kidding me!" Faith shouted. "The President, the big guy, the commander in chief or whatever those shitty shows you watch call him."

"Yes," Xander nodded firmly. "And now he's on his way here."

"You're going to meet the fuckin' President?" Faith laughed at him. "Oh man, you married his fuckin' daughter Xan, oh shit; they should make a show out of this or something."

"Can we move away from my discomfort for one second," Xander glared over. "Think about this, who else goes wherever the President goes?" He watched as Faith thought about it for a minute before the penny dropped. "There you go."

"Fuck," Faith whispered as she took another pull of her cigarette. "How long?"

"We're heading back to Zoey's hotel then to the airport to meet him," Xander explained.

"Damnit," Faith grimaced. "Shit Xan, you can't meet the President alone."

"I'll be fine," Xander reassured her. "Or dead more than likely considering I married his daughter while drunk, but whatever, you need to get out of town."

"Bite me," Faith grinned at him. "You think I'm running 'cause some hopped up security guards are coming along with the President, no sweat."

"Faith, these are secret service, at best the guys Riley's guys look up to, any number of them could know about Slayers and the other stuff." Xander explained.

"That's why I'm sticking with you," Faith shrugged. "These guys want a way to the Slayers, who you think they're going to go after, one of us or someone like you or Giles?"

"Faith you can't…" Xander trailed off as he noticed the way Faith was smirking at him. "I'm not going to talk you out of this right?"

"No hope in hell," Faith grinned at him before pushing past him and walking towards Zoey. "Hey, Faith."

"Zoey Bartlet, or Harris I guess now." Zoey smiled over at the brash brunette that had come over. "So you're friends?"

"Yes," Xander sighed as he came upto the two women. "Faith missed her ride out of town; she's going to stick with me until I can sort something out alright?"

"If she's a friend," Zoey nodded at him as they started walking again. "So how did you two meet?"

"At school," Xander answered quickly, trying to think up a semi believable story for Faith as they walked, all the while Faith was glaring at him behind Zoey's head.

* * *

><p>"How's it going in here?" Leo asked as he walked back into the area where Sam and Toby were working.<p>

"Pretty good," Sam nodded as he continued writing something down. "How'd he take it?"

"He's gone to tell the First Lady in person, we're to stay away regardless of shouting." Leo explained as he took a seat.

"I wouldn't interrupt that argument if you paid me," Toby winced from where he was sat, thinking about the conversation President Bartlet was about to have with his wife.

"You and me both," Leo agreed with a nod. "We'll be landing in about forty minutes or so, have you got it finished up?"

"Polishing now," Sam nodded.

"And you like this?" Leo asked Toby as Sam handed over the paper they'd been working on.

"It's as clean as we're going to get it," Toby shrugged. "Not much damage control but more spin."

"Looks good," Leo nodded, flicking through the statement quickly, there were no buzz words that immediately grabbed his attention and it seemed to flow pretty easily to his eyes. "Ok, Zoey will be meeting us at the airport, so expect paparazzi and journalists on route, we don't know how long we'll be there so I've checked us all in for a week, we can extend that if necessary and work from there."

"Las Vegas for a week?" Toby asked in shock.

"You want to tell the President he has to hurry this up so we can get back to Washington?" Leo asked, glaring over at Toby. "I thought not." He said when Toby shrank back. "If we can put it on the cards, we might head back with a stop off at LA first." Leo explained. "Do a drive up to the Sunnydale Catastrophe zone, have a few photographs of the President with one of the Sunnydale survivors, usual publicity, you know the drill. That's only if we can arrange it around whatever else this week is going to throw at us, so no word of it leaves this room."

"Got it," Sam said while Toby simply nodded.

"You should both grab something to eat and freshen up before we land; the press are going to be all over this, so try not to look like you've just rolled out of bed." Leo said as he stood up and straightened his tie again. "Anyone seen Charlie?"

"Heading down to the mess," Toby said simply. "He was looking for some coffee and somewhere to read while the President was in with you."

"Got it," Leo nodded. "Freshen up then fax a copy of this over to CJ so she's prepared for questions, then get ready for the heat."

* * *

><p>"This is your room?" Xander whispered in awe as Zoey led the way into the hotel suite she'd got for a few days in Las Vegas.<p>

"Girls got it good," Faith grinned as she wandered in to the lavish room at the Hilton Hotel.

They'd managed to get in the back way to the hotel; a willing bus boy opened the door for them when he recognised who Zoey was, that way they'd managed to take the back stairs through the hotel, effectively avoiding any more press or paparazzi that would have been waiting for them.

Faith had been the one that had left the group for a bit to go and buy Xander some shaving foam and razors, seeing as she could walk through the paparazzi without them knowing who she was or if she was friends with them, so she'd done that and met them back on the second floor where it was quieter.

"My dad stays in this hotel a lot," Zoey said by way of explanation. "It was the one I knew when I came here, so they gave me this room instead of a normal one."

"Wouldn't complain," Faith grinned at the large bed in a room off to one side. "This place is bigger than my apartment, hell, bigger than most places I've stayed at."

"They like to keep on good terms with my dad," Zoey explained as if she was used to it but fed up of it at the same time. "The bathroom's through there, you can get cleaned up and changed in there, there's plenty of room."

"Uh, thanks…" Xander nodded as he moved in the direction Zoey had indicated, knowing that he was actually in a rush but nervous about both meeting the President, and leaving Zoey and Faith alone in the room together.

"Go on, we've only got about half an hour before we have to be at the airport," Zoey rushed him on before leading Faith through into the bedroom. "So, you're a friend of Xander's right?"

"Yeah," Faith nodded as she looked around the lavish bedroom.

"He said you do some security work," Zoey said as she walked to one of the closets and started pulling out various dresses and suits.

"Bit of this, bit of that," Faith shrugged, trying to remember what Xander had actually said about her while they were making their way back to the hotel.

"So when were you guys dating?" Zoey asked, smiling at the surprised look Faith gave her. "Kinda obvious, the way he looked like a dear in headlights when he had to leave us alone, dead giveaway."

Faith laughed at her as she made her way over to the window and stared out at the view, noting the long way down specifically. "Few years back, back when I first came to Sunnydale, Xan was good to me, wasn't exactly dating or anything, just a hot night and…"

"I know what you mean," Zoey laughed. "One night stand?"

"Needed a workout," Faith shrugged. "Shit, you're like the President's daughter; I shouldn't be talking to you about shit like this."

"Its fine," Zoey laughed as she pulled off her top quickly now that she'd found an acceptably cool summer dress to wear for the day. "I like it actually, think you're the first person not to watch their mouth or hide what they think around me."

"But you're… shit girl, your clothes are probably worth more money than I've ever seen," Faith muttered as she looked at the clothes Zoey had been throwing on the bed.

"The black summer dress," Zoey nodded to the one on the far side of the bed. "It's too big for me around the chest, hangs off the shoulders and makes me look flat chested."

"Sell it then," Faith shrugged as she looked at the offending dress, it was nice, a deep black, thin enough to be worn in hot summers but thick enough to hide everything that needed to be kept out of view. "Girls gotta work the clothes, if it don't work then get rid."

"Try it on," Zoey smiled at her as she pulled off the jeans she had been wearing and started pulling on the soft green summer dress she'd picked out.

"You're kidding," Faith said, looking at the black dress. "Versace, damn, this dress probably costs more than a car or something."

"Wear it then," Zoey said with a grin as she zipped herself up. "Unless you want to meet the President in jeans and strappy top."

"Oh shit," Faith muttered as she quickly unbuckled her boots and jeans. To be honest she hadn't actually thought about it, Xander had said he had got a suit to wear for meeting the President, to make a good first impression and all that, but she hadn't thought about herself in that equation at all.

"I'll find you some pumps to go with it," Zoey said as she moved to the mirror on the side of the room and started touching up her makeup.

"Pumps?" Faith almost shouted as she pulled her top and bra off and started pulling the dress over her body, taking care not to rip it as she pulled it slowly past her chest.

"Plain black, dress shoes," Zoey said, nodding to the bottom of the closet. "No heels or anything, just comfy dress shoes."

"Doc Martins don't go with the dress?" Faith grinned as she reached around to her back and zipped herself up.

"Biker boots and Versace, my sister would kill me for even considering it," Zoey laughed as she quickly did her eyeliner before grabbing a bottle of perfume from the dresser.

"So… how'd I look?" Xander asked from the doorway, interrupting them both.

"Shit, got James Bond over here or something," Faith grinned at him.

"Harris, Xander Harris," Xander grinned as he walked into the room. The suit and shirt had fitted him almost perfectly, he was glad Zoey had talked him in to adding the plain black belt as the pants were a little loose around the waist, but otherwise the suit hung on him perfectly.

"Aren't we the hidden prince," Zoey smiled as she walked over and straightened his tie. "You clean up very nicely Mr Harris." Zoey smiled before realising she was stood very close to him and staring into his eyes.

"And you look… wow…" Xander said as he stepped back to appreciate the soft green dress Zoey was wearing that almost matched the shirt she had picked out for him. "And… Faith…" Xander smiled, turning to look at Faith who was trying to figure out where she could stash her smokes and zippo in the dress she was wearing.

"Hell, I know I look good," Faith said, smiling knowingly at Xander and Zoey as she rubbed the dress on her body.

"It looks good on you," Zoey smiled at her as she moved back to the closet. "Here," She shouted over, fishing out a pair of simple black pumps and a small handbag.

"Not a word Harris," Faith glared over as she took the offered pumps and handbag, slipping her smokes and lighter into the bag before setting it on the bed to put the pumps on.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Xander grinned at her.

"You cut yourself," Zoey said carefully as she moved over to Xander and rubbed her thumb along a nick in the skin along his jaw line.

"Depth perceptions a bit off," Xander said softly, he'd actually cut himself more than once, but had been using the razor quite gingerly, so most of the cuts had healed up pretty quickly.

"You should have said," Zoey said softly as she got a bit of tissue from the table and used it to wipe away the blood.

"I can still shave," Xander defended himself but was touched by the concern Zoey was showing him, he looked over at Faith and caught her giving them both the same knowing smile.

"I'll just be a minute, you guys grab what you need then we'll get a cab to the airport." Zoey said as she headed towards the bathroom.

"Uh, sure," Xander nodded as he looked around the room in amazement.

"You like her," Faith grinned at him as she stood up and wriggled a bit to get the dress flowing properly again.

"I barely know her," Xander said softly. "I woke up in bed with her this morning, that the first thing I remember."

"You got hitched right?" Faith said simply as she moved back to the window to look out at the view that covered a lot of casinos and desert in the distance. "Must have been something there if you two tied the knot that quick."

"We were drunk Faith," Xander said simply, tucking his hands into his pants pockets to see how the suit jacket would bunch up around them.

"Drunk, sober, doesn't matter," Faith shrugged. "Ain't a girl around that'd go down the aisle drunk or sober if they didn't want to."

"It was a mistake," Xander sighed as he walked over to Faith. "Look at her, she's the President's daughter, she's beautiful," Xander added the last softly before continuing. "I'm just a screw up, once the President's here, he'll see that, we'll get a divorce or whatever then go our separate ways."

"And you couldn't have done that without meeting her dad?" Faith asked pointedly. "Girl likes you too; if she didn't then she wouldn't be bothering to dress you up for him."

"So she doesn't want him to kill me for marrying his daughter drunk?" Xander asked with a small nervous laugh.

"Forget the President shit, the guys her dad, if she didn't want you to meet him, then she could have cut you loose anytime she wanted." Faith explained. "She stuck around, you stuck around, and I can see the way she looks at you."

"Faith, are you giving me romantic advice?" Xander grinned at her.

"I can still throw you out of this window Harris," Faith glared back at him. "Don't forget that bit."

"Never left my mind," Xander grinned back.

"Girls into you, I can see it," Faith smiled, slapping him lightly on the chest. "Who cares how you met, if there's a spark, go for it." Faith shrugged before nodding to the doors behind Xander.

"You two ready?" Zoey asked from the doorway.

"Sure," Xander nodded with a small smile. "Meeting the President, um, no?" He backtracked quickly.

"Get going boytoy," Faith grinned as she pushed him towards Zoey before following them both. "And no sexy shit in the cab." She laughed as two blushing faces turned back to glare at her.

* * *

><p>President Bartlet took a deep breath before walking down the steps off of Air Force One with his wife behind him; the secret service agents were already on guard and ready to lead them into the main airport at Las Vegas. There was already a limousine ready for them, standing by once they'd picked up Zoey to take them to the hotel.<p>

Thankfully there were no press around, obviously they'd managed to slip beneath the radar on this journey, the short notice of the trip had obviously done them at least one favour on this matter.

"Zoey's not here?" Abbey asked quietly as she followed her husband down the steps and onto the tarmac.

"She's probably waiting inside," President Bartlet explained as they started walking towards the main airport, once they were a respectable distance away Leo and the other senior staff came down the steps and followed them.

"Remember, no yelling or arguing," Abbey reminded her husband softly.

"She got married in a Star Trek chapel," President Bartlet muttered softly. "Without us, and drunk. Whatever makes you think I'm going to yell?"

"No yelling," Abbey said firmly. "And no frightening Mr Harris, from what you've told me he's as innocent in all this as Zoey is."

"They got married Abigail, it's not a drunken fling or a photo together, they got legally married." President Bartlet said quietly as the secret service agent walking ahead of them opened the door into the main airport.

"They're kids Jed, it was a mistake, we've all done stupid things when we were their age, and don't you try and deny it to me." Abbey said, glaring over at her husband as they walked into the main area of the airport.

"I don't call marriage a mistake," President Bartlet said as he looked around for any sign of Zoey or Mr Harris.

"You don't want me to answer that," Abbey said wryly back to him.

"Where are they?" President Bartlet said after a moment of glaring at his wife. "She knew I was coming, it was her idea for her to meet us here."

"They're probably running late," Abbey answered simply. "We can get a coffee and then we'll be able to see them when they come by."

"Airport coffee?" President Bartlet said in disgust.

"Fine, you do what you want, I want a coffee." Abbey said simply.

"Fine, take her to get a coffee," President Bartlet said, nodding to the two agents stood behind them. "Leo," He nodded as he saw the rest of the senior staff coming in behind him. "Go with Abbey to get a coffee, snack, whatever, I'll meet you there."

"Mr President?" Leo asked, wondering what President Bartlet was doing.

"I want a cigarette, and since I can't smoke in the airport, I'm heading outside." President Bartlet said as if it was the simplest thing in the world to understand before he walked off towards the main entrance to the airport with the other three secret service agents around him.

* * *

><p>"Where are they?" Zoey asked out loud, not really expecting a response as she looked around the airport. She'd seen Air Force One land, they all had, pretty much everyone at the airport had been looking out of the giant windows at the large plane that had come in to land.<p>

"They're probably getting through customs or something," Xander shrugged.

"He doesn't go through customs Xander, he's the President," Zoey rolled her eyes at him good naturedly.

"How'd I know?" Xander shrugged as he filed that bit of information away. "Probably just stuck in a meeting or something, he's a busy man right?"

"Maybe," Zoey said worriedly, picturing her father storming around Air Force One not wanting to get off the plane and face her.

"Hey, it'll be fine," Xander smiled at her as he caught the worried look on her face. "He's the President, got those secret agent guys and all that, he'll be here, probably just running late getting off the plane or something."

"Probably," Zoey nodded to him with a small smile. "You're probably right; he's probably just finishing up some paperwork on the plane before he comes in."

"See?" Xander smiled at her. "Nothing to worry about."

"Whatever," Faith shrugged from the side where she was trying to figure out how to lean or do anything she was used to doing while wearing this dress. "Chill guys, grab a soda or something, whatever, I'm heading for a smoke."

"Soda sounds good," Xander nodded. "Think there's a café over on the other side of the airport,"

"We can wait there I guess," Zoey said with a nod. "And I could go for a slushee."

"Girl after my own heart," Xander smiled at her. "We'll meet you in the café alright?" Xander shouted after Faith who was already making her way back to the main entrance.

"Five by five," Faith shouted back as she twirled around to nod at them before heading back on her original course for a nicotine fix.

"She's a bit of a handful," Zoey said as she watched Faith leave.

"You don't know the half of it," Xander laughed back as he followed Zoey through the airport towards the café they could see in the distance.

"She seems like a good friend though," Zoey smiled at him, linking her arm through his as they walked.

"Uh, yeah," Xander said, a bit surprised at the simple gesture but smiling at the feeling of their arms interlinking as they walked.

"Your other friend, the one I talked to on the phone, Willow was it?" Zoey asked as they crossed through the crowd.

"Yeah, Willow's my best friend," Xander smiled back at her. "She's always been there for me, whatever happened she was always there."

"Good friends are like that," Zoey smiled sadly at him. "You know what's sad; I never know if my friends are there for me, or for who I am, just wanting to say they're the friends of the daughter of the President, you know?"

"Must be lonely," Xander said softly as they walked.

"I'd only started seeing Nick a few months back, he was in my PolSci class, I thought he was a good guy," Zoey explained.

"Not so much it turns out," Xander said, remembering how Zoey had broken down crying while talking about why she'd come to Vegas in the first place.

"Not by a long shot," Zoey nodded in agreement.

"You know, you can still have him beaten up, or taken out, or whatever your agent people call it," Xander grinned at her. "Perk of the family I hear."

"Don't think I haven't thought about it," Zoey smiled back at him, thankful for what he was doing, it had been too long since anyone talked to her just to make her smile or laugh, she found she missed it more than she actually knew.

* * *

><p>"You can wait there," President Bartlet said simply to the three secret service agents that were following him outside.<p>

Reaching into his jacket he pulled a cigarette out and put it between his lips, perching it there as he patted his pockets down for a lighter. "You've got to be kidding me." He muttered to himself as he fished through his suit jacket pockets for his usual lighter that he always carried with him.

"I'm going to kill someone," He muttered to himself as he remembered leaving the lighter on the desk in the residence back in Washington, he paused for a moment, looking around the outside of the airport until he spotted a young woman lighting a cigarette herself.

"Won't be long," President Bartlet said, turning to the three agents before he started off towards the young woman, ignoring the fact the three agents were moving along the wall as well to keep within easy distance of him.

"Excuse me miss, would you mind?" He asked, motioning to her lighter.

"Knock yourself out," The woman said as she handed over the zippo lighter she'd just used to light her own cigarette.

"Thank you," President Bartlet said with a smile as he flipped open the zippo and lit the cigarette with ease from it. "Nice lighter," He said simply as he flipped the lid closed, admiring the simple chrome lighter with a word engraved on the front. "Faith?"

"Yup," The woman nodded.

"Faith, hope and glory? Or a religious meaning?" President Bartlet asked as he handed the zippo back to the young woman.

"It's my name," Faith smiled as she took back the lighter.

"Ahh," President Bartlet said with a nod, he'd heard stranger names of course but Faith seemed to fit the young woman pretty well.

"Stressed?" Faith asked, watching the way he smoked the cigarette.

"What gave it away?" President Bartlet asked wryly.

"Aside from the way you're fidgeting and got another cigarette in your hand ready?" Faith smirked at him.

President Bartlet looked down at his left hand, where sure enough he'd already fished out another cigarette from his pocket without realising it. "It's been a long day," He explained as he took another drag of the cigarette.

"Seems to be going around," Faith said with a shrug. "You been on TV or something, swear I know you from somewhere."

"Yes, I'm…" President Bartlet started before Faith cut him off.

"Shit, yeah, you're that actor guy, Charlie whatever, seen you in those Hotshots films," Faith grinned at him as she took another pull on her cigarette. "Come to see the showgirls or something?"

"I'm not…" President Bartlet sighed, it was obvious the young woman didn't recognise him for who he was, a sad fact of the younger generation he thought, but with today being as it was, he wasn't really in the mood to enlighten her or be barraged with questions about policy or government which she probably wouldn't understand anyway. "I'd here to see my daughter. My wife's waiting inside for her."

"Been a while then?" Faith shrugged, figuring that was what was causing the stress, reunited family times were always stressful, she knew that much from watching TV and reading magazines.

"A few months at least," President Bartlet answered simply as he tried to remember the last time he had actually seen Zoey at the White House.

"Shit, ain't long or 'owt," Faith shrugged. "Girl probably didn't even know you were gone." Faith smiled at him.

"She was supposed to be in university, not Las Vegas," President Bartlet explained sharply.

"Ahh, girls in trouble then," Faith nodded in understanding. "Still, could be worse than some unplanned holiday right, not as if she's knocked up or anything."

"I pray to god not," President Bartlet said with a nod. "She did something stupid, now she's going to try and explain it to me apparently."

"Can't be that bad," Faith shrugged as she finished off her cigarette and flicked the butt into an ash tray a few yards from where they were standing. "She's young right, kids do that sort of thing, spring break, or summer break, or whatever shit they're calling it. So she screwed up, ain't nothing that can't be fixed right?"

"I surely hope so," President Bartlet sighed as he finished off his own cigarette before walking over to the ash tray and grinding it out before dropping it inside.

"'Sides, she's your daughter right, whatever she does, you're still gonna be there for her right, not gonna kick her out or disown her over a mistake?" Faith asked as the man came back towards her.

"Of course not, I just wish she'd talked about it with me before heading off like that," President Bartlet explained, thinking about what Faith had just said, of course Zoey was still his daughter, just because she'd made a mistake didn't mean he loved her any less.

"So just talk with her right, let her tell her her side, you listen and do the parent shit, she'll say she's sorry and it'll all be done with," Faith shrugged, it was simple enough from where she was standing. "People screw up, shit happens, can't really fix it, just move on and say sorry to the people you fucked over."

"You've got a real mouth on you, you know that right?" President Bartlet sighed at her.

"Boston born and raised," Faith grinned over. "Mom was too busy with the marine boyfriends, guess I picked up too much of the language."

"A lady shouldn't swear like that," President Bartlet admonished her lightly.

"God," Faith laughed, remembering she was in a high class dress. "Ain't been called a lady in… fuck, ever, thanks for that man, needed the laugh."

"I should head back inside, meet my daughter if she ever turns up and her new husband," President Bartlet said as he turned to walk back to the entrance way where the three agents were watching him.

"Shit, your daughter got married too?" Faith frowned as she put it all together. "Oh shit, you're him, the President guy."

"Yes?" President Bartlet asked as he turned back to her.

"Jesus, sorry about the swearing, god, Zoey, that's your daughter right?" Faith asked, doing her best to watch her language now that she knew who she was speaking to.

"You know Zoey?" President Bartlet asked, trying to think of Zoey had ever mentioned a friend called Faith when they'd spoken.

"Only today," Faith nodded. "I'm one of Xander's friends."

"Xander… Alexander, Mr Harris?" President Bartlet asked, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"Friends call him Xander, can't remember anyone ever calling the guy Alexander." Faith explained. "He's inside with Zoey looking for you. They said they were heading to the café so they could see when you came in."

"Then that's where we're going," President Bartlet said simply as he moved to walk back inside the airport. "Faith, are you coming?" He asked, pausing when he realised she wasn't following him.

"Just trying to pick up the last of my dignity," Faith grinned at him, she was just quickly taking some deep breaths to get over the fact she'd been talking to the President of the country for the past five minutes without realising it.

"You did fine," President Bartlet told her. "Just watch your language in future alright?"

"Uh, yes sir?" Faith answered, trying to figure out if 'sir' was the correct term to address him by.

"Better," President Bartlet nodded at her. "Shall we?" He motioned to the doors where one of the secret service agents pushed them aside for him while Faith followed him inside.

* * *

><p>"Mom!" Zoey shouted as she saw her mom inside the café, flanked with two secret service agents and most of the White House senior staff sat at a table across from her, Leo was the only one sat at the table with her.<p>

"Zoey!" Abbey smiled as she stood up, moving to hug Zoey as she walked into the café.

"I thought you were still on-board the plane," Zoey smiled as she hugged her mom tightly.

"We thought you were running late young lady," Abbey smiled as she pulled back from the hug. "You look well Zoey, getting married obviously agrees with you." Abbey said wryly with a small smile.

"Mom," Zoey blushed as she rolled her eyes. "Mom, this is Xander, Alexander really but he goes by Xander."

"Alexander," Abbey smiled over, stepping forward and holding out her hand for him to shake.

"Mrs Bartlet," Xander said respectfully as he took the hand offered and shook it firmly.

"Where's dad?" Zoey asked, looking around the café for the President.

"He went outside for a cigarette," Abbey said, turning back to her daughter. "Been telling him for years to quit, he just won't give them up."

"Outside?" Zoey asked, turning to Xander quickly. "You don't think…"

"Faith wouldn't know what he looks like, or anything else for that matter," Xander said reassuringly, the idea of Faith being alone with the President for any amount of time worrying him more than anything now.

"Here he is now," Abbey smiled as she waved across the crowd to where they could all see the President walking over with his three secret service agents around him, and a brunette in a black dress walking slightly behind him,

"Someone hates me, they must," Xander muttered as he sank his head into his hands tried to figure out which god he must have offended for the actions of today to bite him like this.

"Faith's a friend of Xander's mom," Zoey explained quickly. "She's a bit rough around the edges."

"Rough?" Abbey asked as she looked at the young woman approaching them behind her husband.

"Think of Leo in a bad mood, then wrap it in a woman, and give her the mouth of a drunken sailor." Zoey explained quietly. "She's a good person, just a bit rough."

"If you say so," Abbey nodded understandingly as her husband made his way inside the café with the secret service agents moving to take their places. "Jed, I see you've met Faith."

"Indeed, quite an unusual conversation I must say," President Bartlet smiled over at her, showing he didn't mean any offense. "Zoey," He smiled, opening his arms to welcome his youngest daughter with a hug.

"Dad," Zoey smiled as she rushed forwards into the hug.

"Are you ok?" President Bartlet asked, whispering in her ear as he hugged her tightly.

"I'm fine dad, honestly," Zoey reassured him as she stepped out of the hug. "You didn't have to bring everyone down; I could have come back to Washington just as easily."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," President Bartlet smiled at her. "So, this is Alexander I take it?" He asked, turning to the young man that was standing awkwardly on his own for the moment.

"Dad, this is Xander, Xander, my father." Zoey introduced them then stepped aside so the two men could see each other properly.

"It's… uh… it's nice to meet you Mr President Sir," Xander babbled out nervously.

"Come with me," President Bartlet said, curling his finger at Xander. "We've got the car ready; we'll go back to the hotel now to talk."

"Dad," Zoey said softly.

"That was to all of you, not just Mr Harris," President Bartlet clarified himself. "Leo, we'll see you all back at the hotel, I'm sure you can understand this is a private matter. If you'd bring Miss Faith back with you that would be appreciated."

"Of course Mr President," Leo nodded from where he was stood; like pretty much everyone else in the café he had stood up when the President had entered.

"Good," President Bartlet nodded back. "Abbey, Zoey, Mr Harris." President Bartlet said with a nod before leading them out of the café and back towards the doors to the outside of the airport where the limousine was waiting for them.

* * *

><p>"Just Faith," Faith shrugged as the eyes of the four men left in the café turned to her. "Leo right?" Faith said, turning to the man the President had been speaking to.<p>

"Sam she's with you and Josh," Leo said firmly, turning to Sam with a nod. "Charlie, Toby, with me."

"I'm Sam," Sam said by way of clarification as he stepped forwards. "Josh, Charlie and Toby." Sam introduced the rest of them with a nod.

"We'll see you at the hotel, cars are pre booked on hire lease, pick up your keys at the desk," Leo said quickly. "I'm heading back now, so unless you two want to wait…"

"I'd good," Toby said quickly.

"Ready when you are." Charlie added almost at exactly the same time.

"Fine," Leo said before leading the two of them out of the café and towards the car hire area.

"Picking up some tension there," Faith said with a small smile.

"You wouldn't be wrong," Josh muttered from where he was stood. "So you know Mr Harris then?"

"Xander, shit yeah, Jesus, sorry about that, just kinda slipped out you know?" Faith said apologetically.

"Its fine," Sam smiled at her, making a mental note to not let her near the press, ever. "So, you met the President."

"I thought he was an actor," Faith explained with a small blush. "I think I left some of my dignity outside, mind if we swing by so I can see if I can salvage any of it?"

"We work at the White House," Josh shrugged as he finished off his coffee. "Dignity is overrated."

"So he goes by Xander then?" Sam asked, trying to steer the topic back to something they could actually use later on. "Not Alex or Lex or anything?"

"Just Xander," Faith nodded. "You mind?" She asked, nodding to the muffin in front of Sam.

"Go ahead," Sam nodded, pushing the muffin her way before sitting back down at the table and motioning for Faith to join them.

"It's like a miniature Donna," Josh muttered to himself as he watched Faith dig in to the muffin.

"Hey, not that I know who this Donna chick is," Faith waved the question away. "Anyway, I've barely eaten since getting out of Sunnyhell, cheap café muffin works like a banquet if you ain't eaten for a few days."

"Sunnyhell?" Josh asked in shock. "Sunnydale, you were one of the refugees?"

"Refugees?" Faith asked. "Dunno about that pops, but we escaped if that's what you mean, last out the door and all that." Faith frowned as some of the muffin crumbs fell down her dress so she tried to shake the dress out, oblivious to the amount of cleavage she was showing the two men as she did so.

"And you haven't eaten since you escaped?" Sam continued Josh's line of thought.

"We snacked, chips and shit, sorry, snack food from gas stations and whatever, figured we'd get something when we hit Vegas right, hit up those all you can eat buffet's or something," Faith shrugged at the looks she was getting from Josh and Sam.

"And Xander?" Sam asked, wondering if Zoey knew this.

"Probably ate this morning or something," Faith shrugged. "Dunno, I hit the bars last night, only caught up to him with Zoey earlier on."

"I'm on it," Josh said, flipping out his cell phone.

"Right, if that's the case, we should probably get you something to eat back at the hotel." Sam explained as he stood up. "Ladies first." He smiled at her as he motioned to the door out of the café.

"You're second person today to call me a lady," Faith laughed as she stood up. "Ain't never gonna happen."

"I'll wait for you outside," Josh said, grabbing his jacket in one hand as he held the ringing cell phone to his ear with the other while he walked out of the café towards the side exit to the airport.

"What's his beef?" Faith asked as she walked with Sam towards the rental car area.

"He's calling the President's limousine to let them know about Xander," Sam explained as they walked. "We didn't know neither of you had eaten since the Sunnydale Catastrophe, if we'd known we could have arranged this on a bit less of a pressing time frame."

"Xan'll cope," Faith shrugged. "Boy's been dealing with worse than the President for years now, take more than a few days without proper food to keep him down."

"Worse than the President?" Sam asked as they approached the rental car desk. "One reserved, White House staff." Sam announced, flashing his White House staff pass.

"Uh yeah," Faith nodded quickly. "Principal of the old school was a real troll, pain in the ass to boot." She laughed nervously as she tried to cover up what she'd just said.

"Xander doesn't get along with authority figures then?" Sam asked as the woman handed over some keys along with a form for him to sign.

"Nah, he's cool with it, just guys telling him what to do and what to think, rubs him the wrong way I guess." Faith shrugged as she watched Sam sign his name with a flourish and take the keys. "Guy's dad was a real asshole from what I hear, so he just grew up like it."

"I see," Sam nodded, filing this bit of information away for later use. "This way then." Sam smiled as he led Faith out towards the rental lot where their car, and hopefully Josh, would be waiting for them.

* * *

><p>"So…" Abbey attempted to break the uncomfortable silence that had descended upon the limousine as it drove through Las Vegas towards the Hilton hotel. "I hear you lived in Sunnydale, I'm sorry to hear about the devastation there."<p>

"Thank you ma'am," Xander smiled back at her. "We were on one of the last busses out, barely made it before the town collapsed."

"You saw it happen?" Abbey asked in shock.

"Right behind us ma'am, we even stopped at the edge to look down at the crater." Xander explained with a small smile, remembering the last sign at the outskirts of the town that had fallen in as they'd watched.

"That must have been terrifying," Abbey said softly.

"Yes ma'am," Xander nodded, remembering being more scared of the fight with the Turok-han army under Sunnydale than the actual town collapsing behind them as they drove out of the town.

"Hmm?" President Bartlet turned to his wife when she poked him in the ribs lightly to get him to contribute instead of just staring across the limousine at Xander. "So, Mr Harris, I think we can all agree to stop dancing around the elephant now right?"

"I think so Mr President Sir," Xander nodded quickly.

"One or the other, not both," President Bartlet sighed. "I want to know what your plans are in regards to my daughter." He said simply, fixing Xander with a look that dared him to lie here.

"I… I haven't thought much about it Mr President." Xander answered honestly.

"You haven't thought much about it?" President Bartlet repeated in disbelief.

"Dad, it's only been four hours, in that time we've woken up, figured this all out, talked to you and been chased by reporters," Zoey intervened.

"But you've thought about it." President Bartlet said calmly, turning to his youngest daughter.

"We made a mistake dad, I'm sorry," Zoey said softly.

"We both are Mr President," Xander nodded in agreement with Zoey. "I didn't mean for this to happen, I really didn't."

"I believe you Alexander," Abbey nodded across to him.

"Fine," President Bartlet nodded, accepting this for the minute. "The question still remains, what are your plans now?"

"I… I think I know dad," Zoey said softly. "I was going to talk with Xander about it, but then his friend Faith found us, and then we came to meet you, it's been a bit crazy so far." Zoey explained. "But, I think we can work this."

"Work this?" President Bartlet repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"If Xander agrees that is," Zoey said, turning to Xander. "Just hear me out alright?" She said to him before turning back to face her father. "I know how important the re-election is to you dad, I'd never want to hurt that, now when you and mom are going through the whole other thing as well." She explained, knowing they would both know she was talking about the MS scandal and the investigation being held at the moment.

"One second." President Bartlet said with a nod as he picked up the phone that was buzzing to the side of him. "Yes?" He said simply, waiting for the reply. "I see." He said after a moment before pausing again. "I'll take care of it." He said finally before clicking the phone down. "Ok." He said, turning back to Zoey.

Zoey nodded at him, being used to interruptions like this all the time, she took a deep breath before continuing. "Dad, if Xander agrees, I think we should stay married, at least until the election campaign is over."

President Bartlet didn't precisely know how to react to this, the thought filtered through his mind for a moment before he'd even registered that everyone was waiting for his thoughts of Zoey's idea. "You want to stay married, for the sake of my campaign?" He asked, looking at Zoey first and then at Alexander.

"Zoey, you know I'll stand behind you if this is what you want," Abbey smiled at her. "But if you choose to do this, it won't be easy."

"I know mom," Zoey nodded. "But we screwed up, I screwed up, I can at least try and fix it right?" She asked, smiling apologetically over to her father. "Dad?" She asked, trying to read what he was thinking by the look on his face.

"I don't know what to say," President Bartlet answered honestly before fixing his gaze on Xander.

"I need to fix this dad, it's my fault the newspapers are printing this, we're the ones they're talking about not you. If we get divorced it'll just be another scandal they can use against you." Zoey explained. "I want to do this, I want to help you."

"What about your classes?" President Bartlet asked simply.

"I can still go to class, or take a year out on a work program," Zoey explained. "I know it's not ideal, but I can do it."

"And what do you think of this?" President Bartlet asked, not taking his eyes off Xander for one moment.

"If… if Zoey thinks this is the best thing, then I say let's do it… uh, Mr President." Xander added the last quickly. "I really didn't mean for this, truly, if this helps fix it then I'm all for it."

"I can't ask you to do this for me," President Bartlet said softly, turning his attention back to Zoey this time. "If you want a divorce we'll work something out, you'll both have to live in the same state for two months before filing though, even I can't go above state law on that."

"I want to do this dad," Zoey said with a small smile. "We want to do this, to fix this." She said, reaching out and taking Xander's hand in her own.

"It's their choice Jed," Abbey said, looking over at her husband.

"You're sure you want to do this?" President Bartlet asked, looking at his daughter and the man sat next to her.

"Yes sir," Xander nodded firmly.

"If I didn't want to do it, you couldn't force me to." Zoey smiled over at him, her hand still holding Xander's.

"Alright then," President Bartlet nodded softly. "This is going to take a lot of work though; the press are going to be all over you from day one of this."

"I know," Zoey nodded slowly.

"And there is the matter of a photograph that has already found its way to Washington papers," President Bartlet said slowly. "I've been told it's of Mr Harris answering the door naked to a bunch of photographers."

"Oh god," Xander muttered, hanging his head low.

"Was it that bad?" Zoey asked, blushing and grimacing at the same time as her father turned to look at her.

"Worse," President Bartlet said with a soft glare. "I'm assuming you can teach Mr Harris how to act around the press and other situations he may encounter?"

"I can do that," Zoey nodded, remembering all of what she'd been through growing up and what she'd had to learn with her father being in the spotlight so often.

"Alright," President Bartlet nodded firmly. "I believe we have only one last thing to discuss then." President Bartlet paused as everyone looked at him. "I was just informed that Mr Harris hasn't actually eaten since the collapse of Sunnydale, is this true Mr Harris?" President Bartlet asked, turning his full attention to Xander.

"You haven't eaten in three days?" Zoey asked, using her free hand to slap him around the shoulder. "Why didn't you tell me!"

"Uh, yes sir, well, no sir," Xander answered confusingly.

"Well which is it, yes or no?" President Bartlet asked for clarification, inwardly smiling at the way he'd casually accepted Zoey cuffing his shoulder, the same way Abbey used to slap his arm whenever he said something stupid.

"We stopped at a few gas stations on the way to Las Vegas Mr President," Xander explained. "We didn't have much money though, so we got as much food and drink as we could and spread it around all of us."

"All of you?" President Bartlet asked.

"There were twenty six of us in the bus Mr President," Xander explained. "Mostly teenage girls or older like Faith, some of them injured, they needed the food more than me or Giles did."

"Giles?" President Bartlet asked, memorising the unfamiliar name for later research.

"One of the other people that escaped sir," Xander explained. "I suppose he was the oldest, me and him too turns driving the bus so the girls could rest and recover Mr President."

"That doesn't answer the question." President Bartlet said firmly. "When was the last time you ate?"

"Maybe two days ago," Xander answered honestly. "The girls needed it more than I did sir; I was going to get something today but…"

"Understandable," President Bartlet nodded in a show of respect. "We'll get both you and Faith something to eat at the hotel, a proper meal."

"I don't want to be any bother sir," Xander winced as the President glared at him.

"You've already been that," He said wryly, looking at both Xander and Zoey. "So, tell me about yourself." The President said before sitting back in the seats of the limousine and waiting for Xander to start talking.


	2. Chapter 2

Xander let out the breath he had been holding and slumped against the wall, resisting the urge to loosen the tie around his neck as he looked around the room. This was the first time he'd actually had a moment to think about anything since he'd woken up this morning, the entire day so far had just been one thing after another with barely any breathing time in-between.

The drive through Las Vegas was quite possibly the most uncomfortable half an hour of Xander's life, which included moments when he thought he was going to die or was being tortured or kidnapped, or any other of a hundred things that had happened to him in Sunnydale.

Half an hour of being quizzed about his life by the President of the United States, half of the time he was watching what he said so he didn't inadvertently give away the secrets of vampires, slayers or anything else, the other half he was trying to curb his speech so he actually spoke properly instead of using slang terms or 'scooby-isms', all the while making sure he added 'Mr President' or 'Sir' to every answer he gave.

Thankfully most of the time Zoey had actually come to his rescue, talking about things and diverting the President's attention away from his line of questioning, he'd shot her a grateful glance every chance he'd got, and she held onto his hand the entire time as well, even though he was sure his palms had been wetter than the ocean by the time they'd reached the hotel.

Then he'd had another surprise, instead of the interrogation continuing, the President had actually marched straight through the lobby to the restaurant and ordered the buffet open, they'd been given a private room and more food than Xander had ever seen in his life had been wheeled in on giant tables that now stretched down the side of the room.

They'd sat down and eaten quietly, with the President and the First Lady politely asking him questions about his schooling and family, his friends and what he did for a job, by the end of it he was having trouble following the conversation himself as he answered questions from all three of the people around him, with Zoey asking as many questions about his past as the President was.

Five minutes ago that had changed thankfully, one of the guys from before at the airport café, the coloured guy in the suit, had come in and informed the President that someone called Leo was asking for him upstairs. So the President had quietly excused himself and moved out of the room, Zoey had come to his rescue not five minutes after he'd left the room, asking the First Lady if they could go upstairs and talk in private, to give Xander some time alone for a while.

So here he was, breathing deeply and doing his best not to hyperventilate over the situation. Taking another deep drink of the glass of water he'd been offered he sighed, looking around the empty buffet room in shock at what the hotel had laid out for the President in such short time.

He really wasn't sure where his thoughts actually were at the moment, everything was such a mess, and with all the questions he'd been asked so far he was having trouble remembering everything he'd told the President.

"Xander?"

He span around as someone called his name from the doorway, recognising the voice before his eyes had even reached the voices owner.

"Oh thank god," Xander breathed out as Faith came into the room, followed by one of the men from the café. "Oh, uh, hi?"

"Sam," Sam smiled as he walked behind Faith over to Xander, moving past her as she stopped to offer his hand for Xander to shake.

"Hi, Xander," Xander introduced himself as he shook the offered hand.

"The President asked me to bring Faith down here to get something to eat," Sam explained as Faith looked around the room in awe at the spread laid out. "How are you doing?"

"Somewhere between a heart attack and nervous breakdown?" Xander offered with a nervous laugh.

"Jesus Xand, this stuff all for us?" Faith asked, interrupting the conversation as she looked at the food like a starving woman.

"I think it was for the President and his guests really," Sam said wryly with a smile. "But since you're one of the guests, I guess so."

"You mean…" Faith nodded at the food on the large tables stretching the length of the room.

"Dig in," Sam nodded at her with a smile, a shocked grin spreading across his face as she moved at a speed he could barely watch toward the far table and started ripping meat off of one of the large roast chickens that was laid out and piling it on one of the plates that was left for them.

"You didn't want any of this left over, right?" Xander asked with a grin as he watched Faith heartily piling her plate full with the food that was on offer.

"It's good," Sam laughed. "Nice to see a girl with a healthy appetite."

"Kind of lost mine," Xander shrugged as he looked at his half eaten plate; all the way through the meal he'd been frightened of answering a question to the President with his mouth full of food, so he'd only been picking at the food lightly in-between questions.

"Faith told me you haven't eaten properly in days," Sam admonished him lightly. "The food is here for you two, enjoy it." Sam smiled as he moved to pick up one of the plates for himself and started putting bits of ham and some of the crusty bread aside.

"It's just…" Xander trailed off as Faith came and stood next to him, putting her plate that was now piled high with food on the side table for the minute.

"Shitty," Faith said with a nod.

"The food's bad?" Sam tried to understand what they were saying as he picked at a bit of ham.

"The food's good," Xander nodded. "I mean great, like amazing food but…"

"The others." Faith filled in with a shrug.

"We left Sunnydale with twenty three others," Xander explained. "They're all the same as us, half starved, sleep deprived and running on empty."

"Feels pretty shitty digging in to a spread like this while they're god knows where still starving or whatever," Faith explained her reluctance as she looked at the plate of food she'd put aside.

"Ahh," Sam nodded in understanding as he put his own plate down in sympathy.

"The only reason I'm getting fed like this is because I ended up getting married on a drunken binge," Xander said with a sigh. "Feels like I'm getting rewarded just for screwing up again."

"Haven't you seen the news lately?" Sam asked quietly, getting both of their attention. "Los Angeles is full of relief effort, shelters, food drives, the National Guard is out in force keeping the peace and making sure the Sunnydale survivors get the food and medical care they need. If your friends needed help like that, all they had to do was ask."

"The National Guard?" Xander asked, raising his eyebrows at this bit of information.

"The Sunnydale Catastrophe was the largest disaster to happen on US soil since the nine eleven attacks in New York," Sam explained slowly. "The relief effort has been one of the largest ever mustered, people have been donating food from all over the country to help the survivors. We haven't organised a relief effort on this scale for a natural disaster since the eighty-nine meteor shower."

"We have to tell them," Faith said urgently.

"How?" Xander asked before clicking his fingers. "Dawn!" He exclaimed. "Buffy bought Dawn a cell phone when she started school."

"Call her!" Faith practically shouted.

"Is there a…" Xander asked, turning back to Sam to see him holding out his own cell phone for Xander to use. "Thanks."

"Take your time," Sam smiled over. "I'll be back in a few, give you two some privacy." He explained as he picked up his plate to take with him as he left the room.

"You remember her number?" Faith asked, watching as Xander dialled in a number from memory.

"We all memorised it just in case," Xander explained, remembering how Buffy had given the number to him and Willow to memorise in case something happened to her. "Come on… come on…" Xander whispered as he held the phone to his ear and waited for Dawn to pick up.

"Didn't B have one?" Faith asked quietly as they waited for Dawn to answer the phone.

"Broke it," Xander answered back. "Turns out Nokia don't make Slayer proof phones."

"Figures," Faith shrugged as she watched the phone intently.

"Hello?" A cautious voice answered the phone.

"Dawn?" Xander asked excitedly.

"It's Vi," the voice answered back. "Who's this?"

"Xander," Xander answered happily, thanking god than Dawn had obviously remembered to charge the phone overnight when they were in Las Vegas. "Is Buffy there?" He asked with a smile.

"Xander, oh my god, sure, one second…" Vi's voice came back before Xander had to pull the phone away from his ears as Vi yelled 'Buffy' at the top of her lungs.

He waited for a moment as random noises came over the line, several discussions that he couldn't make out and the shuffling of fabric. "Xander?" Buffy's voice finally came over the line.

"Buffy thank god," Xander grinned as his body flooded with relief.

"Oh god Xander, are you ok, what's happening, we saw the newspapers, I can't believe you actually did it." Buffy babbled over the line.

"I'm fine," Xander answered as he sank into a chair. "How's everyone there doing?" He asked patiently.

"We're good," Buffy answered. "We stopped someplace outside of Vegas, Callvile, Calville, whatever," Buffy explained quickly. "Are you… you know… with the President?" She asked in a whisper.

"He's not here," Xander grinned into the phone. "Gotta tell you though, lot taller in person than he looks on TV."

"When do you watch the President on TV?" Buffy laughed over the line. "And who's phone are you calling on?"

"Uh, some guy, Sam was it?" Xander asked, turning to Faith.

"Script writer or speech writer or something," Faith answered with a shrug.

"Oh god, is that Faith?" Buffy almost screeched down the line.

"Hey B," Faith grinned as she said the words loud enough for Buffy to hear.

"Faith is there as well?" Buffy yelled down the line. "We thought she'd run off or something when her room hadn't been checked in to."

"Just chilled for the night B," Faith explained. "Had to get some stuff out of my system."

"Oh god, she hasn't…" Buffy started as Xander grinned at the phone.

"She met him before I did," Xander laughed down the line causing Buffy to groan.

"And you're both still walking free?" Buffy asked rhetorically.

"Har de har," Faith shouted sarcastically at the phone.

"This isn't really a social call," Xander said, bringing the attention back to the reason he'd called in the first place. "Did you know the Sunnydale thing was national news?"

"We saw the papers," Buffy said over the line. "Along with a naked picture of you I might add."

"Which will never be brought up again," Xander said seriously. "Look, I have it on good authority that there's food drives and relief all over the country for Sunnydale survivors." Xander explained.

"We know," Buffy announced back.

"You know?" Xander asked in shock.

"Turns out Dawn and Giles didn't spend the night relaxing like the rest of us," Buffy laughed over the line. "He got some of the Council's old money transferred; Dawn spent the night on the internet sorting out plans for where to go and where to find food and stuff."

"Should have thought the brains had it covered," Xander sighed in relief. "You're all ok then?"

"We're fine," Buffy said, pretty sure that Xander could hear her smile even over the phone line. "We're stopping here for a day or so before heading on to Cleveland, Giles said something about a Wendigo or something around here, so I'm going to take the new girls out for a test run."

"Slayer holiday," Xander laughed back. "You have food and everything then?"

"Giles stocked up on food before we left Vegas," Buffy explained. "We're good; you just look after yourself alright?"

"Got my own Slayer bodyguard," Xander laughed then grunted as Faith swiped him on the arm. "Hey, what is it with women and hitting me?"

"You love it," Faith grinned at him.

"Dawn!" Buffy's scream made Xander pull the phone away from his ear sharply for a moment. "Dawn, it's beeping at me, why's it beeping?" She yelled again.

"Sheesh, didn't think B had a set of lungs on her like that." Faith grinned at Xander with the double entendre.

"You haven't heard her sing," Xander quipped back, ignoring the obvious comment about Buffy's chest.

"Oh, the phones dying Dawn says," Buffy explained what her yelling was about. "Got to go before it hangs up on me."

"Ok, just stay safe alright?" Xander said seriously, wishing he was there with them to look after his girls.

"You too Xander," Buffy said sincerely. "Faith, you watch over him alright?"

"You got it B," Faith nodded seriously, knowing that it was a large amount of trust for Buffy to ask her to look out for Xander like that.

"And don't do anything stupid." Buffy said finally, causing Xander's eye to roll.

"Too late," Xander grinned into the phone. "I'll call back when I can alright?"

"I'll tell Willow you called." Buffy's voice came back. "Have fun."

"Like that's going to happen." Xander muttered back as the phone went dead in his hand. "Phone died." He explained, turning to Faith as he flipped the cell phone shut.

"Heard," Faith nodded with a smile. "So they're alright?"

"Sounds it," Xander nodded in agreement. "Giles came through with the Council money, so Buffy thinks they're all alright at the moment."

"Good for them," Faith nodded as she sat down next to Xander. "Think they'll be good?"

"Should be," Xander nodded as he put the phone down on the table next to his water. "Buffy, Willow and Giles, and the rest of them now… they'll be fine." He smiled, picturing any vampire or demon that came across what was basically a roaming army of Slayers now.

"Almost pity the vamps," Faith grinned back at him, unconsciously mirroring his own thoughts on the matter.

"All done?" Sam asked, poking his head around the door at the back of the room.

"Yeah, thanks." Xander said, standing up to face Sam. "Means a lot, seriously." He smiled as he picked up the phone and handed it back when Sam came over to the table.

"Glad I could help," Sam said earnestly as he retrieved his phone. "Are you two happy to eat now?"

"More than ever," Faith grinned as she reached over to her own plate and pulled it across to in front of her.

"I could eat," Xander nodded as he picked up one of the sausage rolls and tore a bit off to pop into his mouth.

"Good," Sam smiled as he sat down with them. "When we've finished here the President would like to talk to you some more."

"Talk to me?" Xander asked in horror, his appetite subsiding away as quickly as it had returned.

"Nothing serious," Sam reassured him. "Leo explained Zoey's plan to me," Sam explained as he poured himself a glass of water. "We're just going to have to go over some of the logistics before issuing a press statement."

"So planning what we're going to tell people?" Xander asked carefully.

"Essentially, yes." Sam nodded at the simple term.

"I can do that," Xander nodded. "Ok, planning and talking, I can do those."

"Half the time the trouble's getting him to shut up," Faith smirked over as she popped another bit of chicken into her mouth.

"Hah hah," Xander muttered dryly.

"And the First Lady would like to talk to you," Sam explained, turning to Faith this time.

"Wait, me?" Faith asked in shock. "What did I do?"

"As Mr Harris' friend, the press will undoubtedly be following you as well, photographs and interviews and so on," Sam waved his hand in the air to indicate this was the usual fare. "Now, under normal circumstances I would be reluctant to let you anywhere near the press corps." Sam explained dryly, the smile on his face showing he didn't mean any offense by his words. "Though it might now be an impossibility to keep the press away from you."

"Your turn now," Xander grinned at her, enjoying the horrified look on Faith's face.

"The First Lady and Zoey will be helping you get to grips with the sort of things they'll be asking, the usual responses you can give, what not to say, things like that." Sam explained, envisioning a hundred ways this could go wrong in his mind. "And Leo would like to talk to you as well."

"Leo?" Xander asked for Faith who was still looking like a deer in headlights.

"The White House chief of staff," Sam explained. "Later on when we have a moment, I'll explain who everyone is and their roles to you, that should help cut down on the confusion."

"In simple terms please?" Xander half begged, not wanting explanations that would send him through hours of research just to figure out what the explanation actually meant.

"Short words," Faith nodded in agreement.

"I'll keep it as concise as possible," Sam nodded back. "I do have some work to do, so I'll leave you both in peace for a while," Sam explained as he tapped the bag he was carrying that contained his laptop. "I'll just be in the next room," He indicated a door to the left of the room they were in. "If you come and get me when you're ready, I'll take you up to see the people you need."

"Uh thanks." Xander nodded.

"I'll see you then then," Sam smiled as he moved out of the room and closed the doors behind him, leaving the two shocked Sunnydale survivors to their own discussion.

* * *

><p>"He's lying," President Bartlet said calmly as he walked into the private conference room the hotel had set aside for White House staff.<p>

"What about?" Leo asked as he followed the President into the room and closed the doors behind him.

"Everything," President Bartlet said with a frown. "Half his story doesn't mesh, I've been doing this long enough to know when I'm being lied to Leo, and this guy is lying out of his ass."

"You think he's a threat Mr President?" Leo asked cautiously.

"Not to Zoey or anyone else here," President Bartlet said after a moment's thought. "No, everything he told us about the wedding, the fact he doesn't remember last night, all of today, that's all true."

"He's covering up his past then." Leo said with a nod.

"Something in Sunnydale, possibly with his friends," President Bartlet nodded in agreement. "He kept changing things, like the high school disaster, how a graduation ceremony explosion didn't make national news, how he lost his eye, things like that."

"You think the NSA may have subverted him?" Leo asked as he tried to picture the young man downstairs working for the NSA.

"Not a chance," President Bartlet answered with a bark of laughter. "I do think he's had some military training though, something's off with him, the way he walks, scans the room, I even caught him checking out the secret service agents when he thought I wasn't looking."

"His record came back clean." Leo explained, knowing that they'd checked and double checked military records for any mention of a Harris within his age bracket. "One thing that did pop up of interest was a background check was placed on Mr Harris during May of last year."

"By who?" President Bartlet asked curiously.

"Sunnydale Municipal," Leo said with a shrug. "Records indicate he is Building Codes & Inspection certified and worked as foreman on the reconstruction of Sunnydale High School early last year." Leo explained. "The background check was done as a matter of course for a local government project."

"Do you have any more information about the project in Sunnydale?" President Bartlet asked, curious about the fact that a young man like Mr Harris had obviously been found worthy to work as a foreman on a municipal contract like rebuilding a high school.

"A few names, military transfers, requisition forms," Leo nodded as he explained what they'd found so far. "The project was under civilian leadership, a Doctor Maggie Walsh, specialist in biogenetics and cybernetic research."

"Cybernetic?" President Bartlet asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Doctor Walsh held three doctorates sir," Leo explained. "Cybernetics, psychology and biogenetics, she was considered to be the head of her field in cybernetic research, the NSA started funding her research in ninety-two, late ninety-nine she dropped off the academic map."

"Private research," President Bartlet said with a frown.

"More than likely sir," Leo nodded. "As far as military personnel go, it seems Project Lilac was only interested in marines, the younger the better, going so far as to recruit some straight out of BT. Over the nineteen months Project Lilac was active they had eight hundred and fifty military personnel moved through, without a full account of their mortality rate, I wouldn't be able to tell you what their standard base staff level was though."

"Young marines?" President Bartlet asked with a raised eyebrow. "Without combat experience?"

"It looks that way Mr President," Leo said in agreement. "Maybe a quarter of their entire force had real world experience, possibly less."

"Why would the NSA want marines without any experience?" President Bartlet asked curiously.

"They wouldn't sir," Leo said simply. "The NSA only hires the best of the best, they look for excellence and mature experience in their agents, not recruits fresh out of basic training."

"Yet that is what they were getting," President Bartlet said with a frown. "Ok Leo, keep digging, find out what you can."

"I already have my best men on it Mr President." Leo nodded as he moved to leave the room.

"Oh, and Leo?" President Bartlet asked, causing Leo to pause at the door.

"Yes Mr President?" Leo asked, standing at the door but keeping it closed for the moment.

"Find out what you can about this Faith character as well," President Bartlet said simply. "I remember her saying she was from Boston, should help you narrow it down somewhat."

"I'm having her brought up for an interview when she's finished eating sir," Leo explained with a nod.

"Good," President Bartlet nodded. "But be careful."

"Careful Mr President?" Leo asked, trying to figure out what the President meant by that remark.

"I saw two agents back away from her when she glared at them," President Bartlet explained. "It was only a step and they recovered pretty quickly, but still…" He trailed off in thought.

"Two secret service agents backed away from an unarmed twenty something girl Mr President?" Leo asked in disbelief.

"I'd laugh if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes Leo." President Bartlet shrugged softly. "I think she's in this as deep as Harris is, maybe deeper, but Zoey seems to like her, so tread carefully."

"Will do sir," Leo nodded as he added more questions to the list he already had planned for Miss Faith.

"That'll be all," President Bartlet said, dismissing Leo as he turned to pour himself a glass of water and look through the papers Charlie had already set up in the room for him to work through.

* * *

><p>"Charlie," Sam smiled over as he led Xander into a separate room where a young man was working on some official looking papers. "Mr Harris is ready to see the President."<p>

"He's on a call with Senator Burke at the moment," Charlie said after a brief glance at the phone on the desk next to him.

"Can you look after him until the President is ready?" Sam asked pleadingly. "Toby wants me back in conference to go over CJ's responses for the press release tomorrow."

"Sure thing," Charlie nodded, glancing at Xander then over at Sam. "He'll be fine here."

"Thanks Charlie," Sam smiled at him. "Ok kid, I'll see you around then?"

"Uh yeah, thanks for the…" Xander trailed off, nodding at Sam thankfully.

"No sweat," Sam smiled at him. "You'll be fine, just remember to be respectful and keep your answers straight and to the point."

"Will do," Xander nodded, thankful for the help. He watched as Sam left the room before turning his attention back to the other person in the room who hadn't actually spoken to yet. "Hey."

"Hey," Charlie parroted. "Little tip, 'hey' isn't an acceptable way of greeting the President."

"Got that one," Xander nodded in agreement.

"Most of the guys around will give you some latitude with words, titles and all that because of what's happened." Charlie explained simply.

"But you won't." Xander said, picking up on the subtext and the passive anger in Charlie's posture and tone.

"Zoey means a great deal to me, if you hurt her, you'd better pray that the President finds you first." Charlie said simply, staring Xander directly in the eyes.

"I don't plan on hurting her," Xander said honestly. "Seriously, I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"See that you don't." Charlie said as he stood up, measuring himself up against Xander before moving to the door behind him "Mr President, Mr Harris is here to see you." He announced as he opened the door.

"Send him in Charlie," President Bartlet nodded over, closing the manila folder he was reading through and standing up from his chair.

"Yes sir," Charlie nodded as he backed out of the room and stood aside so that Xander could walk past into the room.

"Ahh Mr Harris, good." President Bartlet said as he nodded at Charlie to close the door behind him.

"Mr President," Xander smiled as he entered the room, rubbing his hands together to try and get rid of the sweaty palms that had already started.

"Sit down Mr Harris; I believe we have some things to discuss." President Bartlet said as he motioned to a chair at the table he had been sat at before he returned to his own chair.

"Thank you sir," Xander said with a nod as he moved into the room further and waited for the President to sit down before he pulled out the chair and sat at it.

"Mr Harris, do I look like a stupid man?" President Bartlet asked simply, interlinking his fingers and staring cross the tops of his hands as he looked across the table at Xander.

Xander swallowed audibly before shaking his head. "No Mr President."

"They do not treat me as one," President Bartlet said with a nod. "I'm been a politician all my life, I was governor of New Hampshire for two terms before running for the presidency, six terms as the house representative, I am not by any measure a stupid man Mr Harris."

"I… I know you're not Mr President." Xander said softly.

"Good," President Bartlet nodded. "I have been in politics long enough to know when someone is lying to me, and you, Mr Harris, lied to me."

"Yes sir," Xander nodded simply.

This actually shocked President Bartlet, he hadn't actually expected an agreement, he was so used to dismissals and arguments, of excuses and reasoning, the fact that someone was actually owning up to lying when confronted with it was actually refreshing to him. "Would you care to tell me why?" President Bartlet asked.

"To protect my friends Mr President." Xander said simply.

"I see," President Bartlet nodded again. "And if I were to ask you about a secret military project in Sunnydale California, you would of course say…" He trailed off ready for Xander to fill in the gap.

"You know about the Initiative sir?" Xander asked in shock.

"I knew about Project Lilac, but thank you for giving it another name." President Bartlet smiled wryly at him. "So, what can you tell me about the Initiative?"

Xander paused again, swallowing deeply as he tried desperately to think of a way out of this question. "Can I ask a question first sir?"

"By all means," President Bartlet nodded.

"Won't I get in to trouble for revealing secrets about a military project sir?" Xander asked slowly.

"A good question," President Bartlet nodded. "No, not unless you signed a specific confidentiality agreement upon consulting with the agency in control of the Initiative project. You would be in trouble if you mentioned it to the press or anyone else, but I think I'm cleared to know about it."

"But don't you already know all about all of the secret military projects sir?" Xander asked, wanting to know how much the President actually knew about the Initiative before spilling his own secrets.

"I have people uncovering the deepest secrets of the Initiative as we speak Mr Harris," President Bartlet said as he glared across the table at Xander. "I will find out what I want to know, and believe me, it would be in your best interests to cooperate with me on this."

"Yes Mr President." Xander nodded simply, believing every word that the President had just said. "Can I ask one more question first though sir?"

"One more," President Bartlet said with a nod, holding up one finger to indicate the question.

"Can I keep my friends secrets sir? I won't betray them to save my own skin." Xander said calmly, holding his breath after he'd spoken as he waited for a response.

"You're protective over your friends." President Bartlet stated. "An admirable trait." He paused for a second, judging his instincts that Mr Harris hadn't lied to him yet. "Very well, but if your friends were involved in anything illegal, I will find out."

"They weren't sir," Xander said firmly with a nod.

"Then begin," President Bartlet said as he pulled a piece of paper over to make some notes on what Xander was saying. "What was Project Lilac, or the Initiative as you know it?" He asked, writing the word Initiative at the top of the paper as he spoke.

"The Initiative was a military base under UC Sunnydale sir," Xander answered honestly.

"I see," President Bartlet nodded. "And your affiliation with the project?"

"I didn't have one Mr President." Xander answered simply.

"You didn't have any affiliation with Project Lilac?" President Bartlet asked in disbelief.

"No sir," Xander answered. "I only found out about it through a friend who was dating one of the marines stationed there."

"I see," President Bartlet frowned. "And you know classified material how?"

"The project ran into some difficulties sir," Xander answered, choosing his words carefully. "My friends helped them out at the end before the project was disbanded."

"You were brought in as civilian consultants?" President Bartlet asked clearly.

"No sir," Xander shook his head.

"You helped a secret military project in an unofficial capacity?" President Bartlet asked, checking if this was correct.

"Yes sir," Xander nodded in agreement, that was pretty much the closest definition of what they had done in the end.

"How many of you were involved in helping the project out of its 'difficulties'?" President Bartlet asked, frowning at the use of the word difficulties.

"Four of us sir." Xander said without hesitation.

"And was Miss Faith one of these four?" President Bartlet asked, merely curious about Faith at this point.

"No Mr President, Faith wasn't in Sunnydale at that point." Xander answered easily.

"I see," President Bartlet nodded, noting the tone of Xander's voice change when he spoke about Faith. "And where was Miss Faith during the time you spent unofficially helping the Initiative?"

"I… I'd rather not say Mr President." Xander said softly, closing his eyes as he knew he'd have to reveal Faith's secrets in the end.

"I'm not asking you to reveal Miss Faith's secrets Mr Harris; I simply want to know where she was during that period of time." President Bartlet said firmly, his tone leaving no room for argument.

"I…" Xander trailed off as he looked at the glare the President was sending his way. "Is she in trouble Mr President?" Xander asked honestly.

"Not that I'm currently aware of," President Bartlet answered simply. "I can have the FBI run a background check on her if you'd prefer, but it would be better for you both if you answered the question honestly."

"Can I ask for Faith to answer the question sir?" Xander asked hopefully.

"Would she answer?" President Bartlet asked, watching Xander's reactions closely.

Xander nodded. "Faith isn't ashamed of her past sir; she's trying to make amends for it."

"I see," President Bartlet frowned as he picked up the phone and dialled a quick internal number. "Leo?" He asked after a brief pause when the phone was picked up. "Please escort Miss Faith in to see me." He paused for a second as the person on the other end of the line spoke for a second before he put the phone down. "She'll be brought in in a few moments."

"Thank you sir," Xander nodded in thanks.

"Answer me this Mr Harris," President Bartlet said, turning his full attention back to Xander. "Are either you or Miss Faith a threat to my little girl?"

"No sir." Xander said emphatically as he shook his head without hesitation.

"And you want me to believe that you married my youngest daughter last night, entirely by accident while intoxicated?" President Bartlet continued his question.

"It was an accident Mr President, I wasn't even planning on getting drunk last night, it just sort of happened sir." Xander answered honestly, a bit of shame and embarrassment leaking into his voice. "I didn't even know you were the president sir, let alone she was your daughter."

"I believe you." President Bartlet said after a moment's thought. "I pride myself on being a good judge of character Mr Harris, and I believe you would protect my daughter with your own life."

"Sir?" Xander asked, a bit shocked at what the President had just said to him.

"Where were you stationed?" President Bartlet asked again. "And don't tell me you haven't served, I've known enough military men to see a soldier when I see one."

"I have never been in the army sir." Xander answered honestly.

"Air force then, navy?" President Bartlet demanded.

"No sir," Xander shook his head.

President Bartlet evaluated this for a moment before nodding slowly. "One more question, why do you wear the eye patch?"

"I lost my eye sir," Xander answered simply.

"You misplaced it?" President Bartlet asked wryly. "Take it off." He ordered, staring Xander directly in the face as he spoke.

"I…" Xander hesitated for a moment before reaching up and slipping the eye patch over his head before dropping the piece of fabric and elastic on the table in front of him.

"How did you lose your eye?" President Bartlet asked again, staring directly at Xander without looking away from the dark socket on the left of his face where his eye should have been.

"It was gouged out with a thumb sir," Xander answered honestly after a moment's thought. "I got in the way of someone who was trying to hurt my friends."

"You protected your friends and lost your eye because of it?" President Bartlet clarified.

"Yes sir," Xander nodded slowly. "Can I put the eye patch back on now Mr President?"

"Please," President Bartlet nodded, never having actually seen what the inside of an eye socket looked like without the eye in place.

"Thank you sir," Xander smiled back.

"You allowed your eye to be gouged out with a thumb when protecting your friends, and you doubt my word when I believe you would protect my daughter the same way?" President Bartlet asked as he stood up, moving to the back of the room to fetch a pitcher of water and two glasses.

"I…" Xander trailed off, thinking about the question for the moment.

"Would you or would you not protect my daughter the same way?" President Bartlet asked as he set one glass down in front of Xander before pouring a glass of water for himself.

"I would sir," Xander answered honestly, knowing that if a vampire or demon attacked, he'd jump in front of Zoey without hesitation.

"There you have it," President Bartlet smiled at him. "Secrets aside Mr Harris, I believe we are on the same page now." He smiled wryly to himself before nodding at the pitcher of water. "Help yourself."

"Thank you sir," Xander nodded as he poured the water into the glass that had been provided before drinking it all in one gulp, the President's line of questioning having left him with a dry through that could only be compared to the desert outside the window of the hotel.

"Now, if we could…" President Bartlet paused as someone knocked at the door. "Yes?" He shouted out before the door opened and Leo walked in followed by Faith.

"Ahh good," President Bartlet nodded at them both. "If you'd like to take a seat, perhaps we can continue."

"Yes Mr President." Leo nodded as he gestured for Faith to take a seat on the side of the table next to Xander while he took a seat at the edge of the table, slightly sat back from the table itself to show the President was in charge here.

"Miss Faith, I understand you are a close friend of Mr Harris' here," President Bartlet asked as he slid the paper of what he'd jotted down so far across to Leo to read. "That Project Lilac, or the Initiative as Mr Harris seems to know it, was a military operation in Sunnydale, underneath UC Sunnydale campus if I'm to believe Mr Harris, which I do." He added the last with a side look to Leo and a nod.

"I don't know anything about the Initiative Mr President." Faith answered honestly.

"I see," President Bartlet nodded, looking down at the piece of paper that Leo had just slid back to him, Faith now had a last name on the paper where Leo had filled it in for him. "Ah, Miss Lehane then, of Boston still?"

"Born and bred," Faith smiled. "Uh, I mean yes sir?" She added quickly when she realised who she was talking to.

"Of course," President Bartlet smiled wryly at her, knowing that expecting either of them to remember the correct address all of the time would be a miracle at this stage. "Now, when I asked where you were during the dealings Mr Harris had with the Initiative, he declined to answer."

"Declined sir?" Leo asked, his tone low as he tried to figure out what sort of game Mr Harris was playing here, he'd only got through a few basic questions with Faith before the President had asked him to bring her to this interview instead, so he was as much in the dark about everything as the President was.

"It's alright Leo," President Bartlet nodded. "I gave Mr Harris permission to decline to answer any questions that would infringe upon the secrets of his friends and family, as long as they didn't breach any laws."

"I see sir," Leo nodded, not liking the 'out' the President had given the two young people, but having to go along with it nonetheless.

"You coulda told them," Faith said softly to Xander. "Not like they ain't going to figure it out."

"Would you care to enlighten me Miss Lehane?" President Bartlet asked calmly.

"Valley State," Faith said softly, looking down at the table instead of at the President or Leo.

"A college?" President Bartlet asked for clarification,

"You mean Valley State Correctional Facility?" Leo asked sharply when he saw her look away, thinking of anywhere else she could mean.

"Yeah, I mean yes sir." Faith said softly, looking up this time at the glare Leo was levelling at her.

"I see," President Bartlet frowned.

"Which level housing were you stationed in?" Leo asked calmly, his hand already set on the alarm in his pocket to alert the guards outside if needed.

"Level two," Faith answered clearly, causing President Bartlet to again turn to Leo for confirmation.

"Open dormitories but armed guards, low security prisoners who show remorse or voluntarily went into custody." Leo explained softly, his hand still on the alarm in his pocket.

"And why were you placed in level two rehabilitation?" President Bartlet asked firmly.

"Turned myself in," Faith said softly. "I mean I went voluntarily sir," She clarified after a second.

"And what were you charged with?" Leo asked cautiously.

"Four counts of homicide in the second degree and one count of manslaughter," Faith said emotionlessly, remembering the day the judge had handed down that sentence as if it was yesterday. "Life without the possibility of parole, sir."

"Yet here you are," President Bartlet frowned. "Why do I believe there's more to that story than you're telling me?"

"Does it matter?" Faith asked softly.

"How old are you Miss Lehane?" President Bartlet asked softly.

"Twenty sir," Faith answered honestly.

"You look older," President Bartlet frowned as he calculated her year of birth quickly and jotted it on the paper in front of him. "Eighty-two right?"

"June thirtieth," Faith nodded as she gave her birthdate.

"Are you seeing the problem here Leo?" President Bartlet said as he jotted down a few other dates on the pad of paper.

"I believe so Mr President." Leo nodded as he looked at the paper. "And when you were charged with these crimes?"

"Two thousand," Faith answered simply. "May fourth, remember it pretty well sir."

"You were seventeen," Leo frowned, to be tried in an adult court the minimum age was seventeen, but for life imprisonment without the possibility of parole to be handed down on a seventeen year old girl, that was pretty much unheard of.

"So what?" Faith shrugged. "I mean… sorry sir."

"Leo," President Bartlet said as he turned to Leo and tapped on the paper. "I'll be fine."

"Yes sir," Leo nodded, slipping out the alarm from his pocket and subtly dropping it on the chair as he stood up. "I want a full record of the court hearing, including the names of the judge and governor responsible."

"Yes Mr President," Leo nodded before he left the room, he paused at the doorway, motioning for two of the secret service guards to enter and stand by the doorway before he closed it.

"You understand this is a matter of concern," President Bartlet explained slowly, nodding to the two secret service agents who were now stood at the edge of the room impassively. "Not something I expected to find in your history Miss Lehane."

"I screwed up sir," Faith said apologetically.

"Explain it to me." President Bartlet said in a tone that demanded exactly what he said.

"I screwed up," Faith started as the thought back to that night in Sunnydale when she'd first plunged a stake into the assistant mayor's chest. "I… uh… I got into a fight, back in Sunnydale, someone got in the way and I killed him." She said softly.

"On purpose?" President Bartlet asked.

"Does it matter?" Faith asked, looking up at the President.

"It matters to me," President Bartlet said firmly. "Did you kill him on purpose?"

"It was an accident," Faith whispered as Xander slid his hand over and wrapped it around her hands that were clasped in her lap under the table. "He got in the way when I was swinging a sta… shovel sir, it stuck in his chest."

"That would be classed as involuntary manslaughter," President Bartlet frowned. "How old were you when this happened?" He asked as he tried to fit Faith's story together.

"Fifteen sir," Faith said with a shrug, unsure what that had to do with anything.

The President frowned, watching as Xander's eyes widened considerable at that piece of information. "Did you recount your story to the jury?" He asked thoughtfully, watching her fidget in the chair while Xander was obviously trying to be subtle about comforting and reassuring her.

"No sir," Faith shook her head softly.

"Why not?" President Bartlet asked.

"Didn't even see the inside of a court room," Faith answered softly. "Lawyers from the other guys said I was too dangerous to be allowed in court, so the judge agreed to do the court thing while I was in the cell."

"Are you telling me you never explained your actions to a judge or jury Miss Lehane?" President Bartlet asked in disbelief.

"Yes sir," Faith nodded softly, knowing jail had been exactly what she'd deserved, so she hadn't fought it or even objected to any dirty trick the lawyers from Wolfram and Hart pulled as they sent her away for crimes she hadn't committed as well as the ones she had. She hadn't even thought of escaping until Wesley had come and asked for her help, if he hadn't of been there then she would have still been back at Valley State, she knew that without thinking about it. "They got me to sign some papers saying that they could use my original… the thing I signed when I admitted to it all at the police station."

"You signed your original statement that you made to the police?" President Bartlet asked.

"Nah," Faith shook her head quickly. "I mean no sir, they recorded it on some tape; cops wouldn't let me near a pen or pencil."

"They wouldn't let you near a writing implement?" Leo asked warily.

"The detective, blonde chick, said I was too dangerous to be allowed one," Faith said softly, looking down at the table again. "Sorry, no sir." She answered after a moment's silence.

"Who was your defending lawyer?" President Bartlet asked, trying to figure out exactly what had been going on in that police precinct.

"Some guy," Faith shrugged before widening her eyes. "I mean I don't remember his name sir, he was young, about Xander's age, said this was his first case."

"Mr Harris, Miss Lehane, I'll have to ask you to wait here for a moment if you please," President Bartlet frowned as he stood up. "You'll understand if I ask that you don't leave this room until I return."

"What's going on?" Xander asked, standing up as the President did.

"I don't know," President Bartlet frowned as he gathered his papers and folder together, subtly picking up the alarm Leo had left for him. "But I will be getting to the bottom of this." President Bartlet said firmly as he strode out of the room and closed the door behind him.

* * *

><p>"Mr President," Charlie stood up from his desk as soon as the door opened, ready as the President came out and turned to him firmly.<p>

"No one goes in or out of that room until Sam gets here, understood?" President Bartlet said firmly, motioning for the two secret service agents to stay inside the room with Xander and Faith. "I want Sam and Josh up here ASAP."

"Yes sir," Charlie nodded as he picked up the phone and started dialling their pager numbers by memory.

"Tell Sam and Josh to meet me in the conference room, I'll be with Leo, something stinks here Charlie, and it isn't the legislation for once." President Bartlet muttered the last as he walked out of the room and down towards the second conference room where he knew Leo would be working.

* * *

><p>"You like him, don't you?" Abbey smiled over at her youngest daughter as they sat together in the bedroom of Zoey's hotel suite.<p>

"Mom!" Zoey blushed as she put away some of the clothes that she'd pulled out when they were rushing to get ready to get to the airport.

"I thought so," Abbey smirked over with a small laugh. "I will admit, he does have a sort of rugged charm to admire."

"I really don't want to talk about this," Zoey muttered as she hung up another dress and replaced some of the shoes back in the pile. "I like him okay?" She sighed as she admitted the fact out loud for the first time.

"You've only known him, what, five hours?" Abbey chuckled to herself.

"So?" Zoey defended herself with a shrug. "He's cute, funny, he doesn't care that I'm the President's daughter or how much money I have, he's just… just Xander." She finished softly. "He's the first man I've met since Charlie who makes me smile like that mom."

"I see," Abbey smiled at her. "He does seem to make you laugh."

"That was the first thing he did," Zoey explained, remembering crying on Xander's shoulder in his hotel room.

"Why did you do it Zoey?" Abbey sighed, knowing the question was bound to come up sooner or later, if it wasn't her than asked then her husband would ask and it would probably lead to an argument between the two of them again.

"I was drunk, I explained that to dad," Zoey explained as she closed the closet doors.

"Not the wedding," Abbey waved that away. "If I was single on a night out, I'd have gone for him as well." Abbey winked over with a laugh.

"Mom!" Zoey shouted in disbelief at what she was hearing.

"Well it's true," Abbey laughed at her daughter's embarrassment. "And I'm talking about coming here in the first place, not getting married to Alexander."

"Oh," Zoey said softly as she sat down on the bed next to her mom.

"It's ok, you can tell me," Abbey said reassuringly. "What happened? When you came to visit last month you told me you were seeing that nice young man from your class."

"Nick," Zoey spat the name out with as much venom as she could muster.

"I take it things didn't end well then?" Abbey asked, a bit surprised at the amount of hatred her daughter could put into one name.

"He was cheating on me," Zoey said softly. "I came home from class when he was supposed to be sick, I got out of class early because it was a research assignment, so I went back to my room to get the books I'd need."

"And he wasn't there?" Abbey asked, trying to figure out where this story was leading.

"No, he was," Zoey said calmly. "In my roommate's bed, with her!" Zoey spat the last as she punched her fist down on the bed. "I was so mad… I wish…" She paused, wiping her eyes for a second before continuing. "I was crying on the stairs when Anna came up, the girl from study hall I told you about?"

"The one that was always talking about sex in class," Abbey nodded with a smirk, remembering how tactless Zoey had explained the young woman to be.

"I just wished I could meet a normal guy, someone who didn't care about all this." Zoey sniffed as she waved around the room, her eyes watering even more now. "She was the one that gave me the idea to get away for a bit."

"Shhhh," Abbey smiled softly and pulled her daughter into a hug. "So he wasn't the man you thought he was then."

"Not by a long shot, we hadn't even… you know…" She whispered the last, a bit embarrassed about talking about sex in front of her mom.

"So you came to Las Vegas to get away from them both," Abbey nodded understandingly, she remembered the pain of being that age, how every relationship was life or death, all or nothing.

"Pretty stupid huh?" Zoey laughed softly into her mom's shoulder as she returned the hug.

"You should have called us," Abbey said softly. "You know what could have happened to you."

"I… I wasn't thinking, I just had to get away," Zoey explained, pulling back from the hug and wiping her eyes that were threatening to spill over with tears again.

"And Agent Toscano?" Abbey asked softly, wanting to know how Zoey had escaped the all-knowing eyes of the secret service.

"She followed me to the library," Zoey explained. "I told her I was just fetching some books so she could wait outside."

"Then you slipped out the back and off of campus," Abbey filled in the rest. "You know your father is going to double the protective detail for you now, at least."

"I know," Zoey said softly.

"It was stupid and dangerous Zoey," Abbey said sternly. "I'm not saying I don't understand why you did it, but that doesn't change how dangerous it was for you."

"I'm sorry," Zoey apologised in a soft voice, facing her mom so she could see that she really meant the apology.

"I know you are," Abbey smiled softly and pulled her back into a hug. "You're a brave girl for helping your father out like this, though I'm certain your motives aren't entirely selfish." Abbey smiled as a small smile threatened to break out on Zoey's face. "Am I right?" She asked, knowing the answer full well already.

"Maybe," Zoey said between a sniff, rubbing her nose and hiding the small smile on her face at the same time.

"He is quite a catch," Abbey smiled at her. "And he already seems to care about you somewhat."

"I noticed," Zoey smiled with a nod.

"But I've yet to see this infamous photograph of him answering the door," Abbey smiled as Zoey broke out in a full blown blush again. "That good then?" Abbey laughed again as Zoey hid her face in her hands in a desperate attempt to hide the blush that was now full force on her face and the smile that was spreading across her lips.

* * *

><p>"This isn't what it looks like." President Bartlet said clearly as he walked into the conference room where Leo was pouring over the fax details Donna had rushed over to him.<p>

"I couldn't agree more Mr President," Leo nodded, standing up from where he was sat and nodding to the papers.

"What have you got?" President Bartlet asked as he sat down at the table and motioned for Leo to do the same.

"It's what I haven't got that bothers me sir," Leo answered quickly. "Prison records are clean, Faith Lehane was sentenced to life in prison on May second, she served two years as a model inmate, records indicate she was attacked once shortly before her escape, she defended herself with minimum force, we have statements from the guards stating to that effect and that the attacker, and I quote, 'must have been crazy to attack her like that'. The three guards who made the statement all express that Miss Lehane was a model prisoner, barely left her cell for the first year, at the start of the second year they managed to convince her to enroll in the adult education scheme where she actually helped teach some of the other inmates Tai Chi in the prisons open area."

"But she wasn't an adult," President Bartlet interrupted.

"She was treated as one in the eyes of the court Mr President," Leo explained. "This gets a bit complicated so you'll have to bear with me."

"Take your time," President Bartlet nodded as he glanced at the papers Leo was shuffling around.

"Miss Lehane handed herself in to custody in Los Angeles, providing a verbal admission of guilt which was later transcribed for the hearing." Leo sighed as he flicked through to the necessary document. "Which wasn't signed or authorised by Miss Lehane."

"Sounds like someone missed the paperwork here," President Bartlet frowned as he tried to piece this all together.

"It gets worse," Leo frowned back. "From what I can find out, the verbal statement given indicates one count of negligent homicide, sixteen counts of assault and four counts of breaking and entering. None of which she was tried for sir."

"She claimed she was charged with homicide and manslaughter," President Bartlet said, trying to remember the exact words Faith had said she'd been charged with.

"Four counts of homicide in the second degree and one count of manslaughter in the first," Leo read off the paperwork. "Which were tried without witnesses or evidence, and without her being present at her own defence hearing."

"Who was the prosecutor?" President Bartlet asked, glaring at the offending papers that Leo was still shuffling through.

"One Lilah Morgan of Wolfram and Hart," Leo said venomously.

"I thought they were Criminal Defence?" President Bartlet asked thoughtfully, knowing there was a Wolfram and Hard branch in Washington but never actually having had any face to face dealings with them.

"They are Mr President, Miss Morgan specialises in criminal defence according to her biography." Leo explained.

"I'm starting to like this less than the Project Lilac mess you got me in to," President Bartlet sighed as he slumped back in the chair. "Are you telling me this court case was illegal?"

"The charges placed upon Miss Lehane aren't what she admitted to, the testimony given by Miss Lehane wasn't noted or authorised by either her or her council. She was denied access to her own proceedings and defence hearing, the hearing took place without witnesses for the prosecution or defence and no evidence for the crimes she was charged with was entered into the court log." Leo explained, flicking through the paperwork.

"No evidence or witnesses for the crimes she originally admitted was entered into the court, without her admittance of guilt, which was taken from the original recording made by Detective Kate Lockley and later transcribed, the original tape of which is missing by the way, the court would have no evidence of any crimes committed by Miss Lehane." Leo frowned as he flicked through a few other pieces of paper.

"Get me the judge who tried this hearing on the phone right now!" President Bartlet barked out.

"He's dead sir," Leo announced simply. "Judge A McConnell, died from what appeared to be spontaneous combustion last December."

"Spontaneous combustion?" President Bartlet repeated in disbelief. "The arresting officer?"

"Detective Kate Lockley of Los Angeles, Robbery-Homicide Division." Leo answered as he found the correct paperwork.

"Her court appointed defence attorney?" President Bartlet asked.

"Privately assigned." Leo frowned as he read the information. "A Mr. Currie sir."

"You're telling me a seventeen year old girl can afford a private defence attorney?" President Bartlet asked in disbelief.

"No sir," Leo shook his head. "Indications are Mr Currie took the case on a pro bono at the request of the judge, he passed the bar two months prior to the case being brought before the judge."

"And where is Mr Currie now?" President Bartlet asked, having a feeling that he wasn't going to like the answer that was forthcoming.

"After the case, he was offered a job by the Los Angeles Wolfram and Hart branch as a public defender Mr President." Leo said with a grimace.

"This man passed the bar, was assigned to work as a public defendant in a corrupt trial, and that was offered a job with the opposition once the trial was over?" President Bartlet sighed as he rubbed his temples with his hand. "You're giving me a headache Leo," President Bartlett frowned. "Let me get this straight, Miss Lehane turned herself in, but was charged with crimes she didn't admit to and the court case was tried illegally by a judge who burst into flames."

"Yes sir," Leo nodded at the summery President Bartlet had given.

"She was sentenced to life without parole, now, correct me if I'm mistaken, but doesn't that charge have to be co-signed by either me, or a governor?" President Bartlet asked with a frown.

"Yes sir," Leo nodded in agreement. "The sentence of life without possibility of parole was issued by then Governor Blanco, who resigned as governor in November of last year after allegations of bribery and criminal associations were filed against him."

"And her record?" President Bartlet asked as he rubbed his temples in an effort to clear the headache that was threatening to form there.

"Mentions the arrest, the false charges, the conviction and has her marked as a fugitive who is armed and extremely dangerous, BOLO attached to her file recommends extreme caution and requesting for tactical support on sighting." Leo explained slowly.

"For a twenty year old girl?" President Bartlet almost laughed. "This woman has the biggest case for unlawful arrest and proceedings I have ever seen," President Bartlet sighed as the door knocked. "Come in." He said aloud as he tried to keep this all straight in his head.

"Mr President?" Sam asked as he entered the room with Josh behind him.

"Good, just the two legal geniuses I needed to see," President Bartlet sighed as he gestured for them both to join him at the table. "If Leo is interpreting this mess correctly, it would seem Miss Lehane has a case against the United States government for… I can't even imagine."

"That bad sir?" Josh asked as he sat down at the table next to Leo.

"Worse," Leo muttered with a shake of his head. "We'll start with breach of her fifth, sixth and eighth constitutional amendment rights and loss of due process rights under the fourteenth amendment."

Sam simply whistled and Josh looked on in shock. "That can't be right." Sam said when his brain had caught up to what he was being told.

"You're the legal experts," Leo said, sliding the papers over to Sam and Josh who immediately started flicking through them. "So far I see abuse of governmental procedure, abuse and corruption of due process, violation of defendants' rights to public and impartial trial, denied the right to face her accuser under the sixth amendment, denied the right to pre-trial to be tried as an adult and so much corruption that I can't see the end of it."

"You can't be serious," Josh said in shock.

"He is," President Bartlet frowned over.

"Mr President, if this gets out…" Josh trailed off as he went pale at the repercussions of such high level corruption becoming public knowledge.

"The campaign would be over," President Bartlet said simply. "The papers you hold could ruin the entire campaign for good."

"Does she know?" Sam asked, looking at Leo first and then to the President.

"No," Leo shook his head. "She confessed to involuntary manslaughter but was charged with four counts of homicide in the second degree and a secondary manslaughter charge." Leo sighed as he tried to figure out how far they'd actually got in this time.

"She believes she was imprisoned by a just jury who found her guilty; I think she honestly believes she belonged there." President Bartlet explained as he continued to rub his head. "She went into custody voluntarily and was a model inmate until her escape."

"We're in trouble," Josh summed up the situation perfectly.

"See, I hadn't realised that." President Bartlet shot back sarcastically at Josh with a glare.

"We have to tell her," Sam said simply. "She has a case here that would probably pay out millions in compensation, if we don't tell her now that we know, that makes us accessory's after the fact."

"He's right," Josh agreed after a moment's thought. "Could we settle this out of court, out of public purview?"

"That would be up to Miss Lehane," Leo said simply. "She might be willing to settle privately, but the people who did this to her would still have to be brought before a Supreme Court for the Chief Justice to oversee."

"If she wishes to follow this matter up," Leo said with a frown. "We offer her the compensation, explain to her exactly what happened, and see if she would be willing to wait for a full investigation into the matter."

"That could take months," Sam said as he flicked through more of the legal documents, getting more and more disgusted as he went through them.

"By which time the campaign would be over and we could focus on bringing the corruption to light publically," Josh followed on with Leo's idea. "Do you think she'd go for it?" He asked, looking at Leo.

"I think she'd follow Mr Harris' lead on this," President Bartlet answered for Leo.

"Sir?" Josh asked, turning to the President. "From what I've seen of her, Miss Lehane is a very strong woman, fiercely independent."

"She groped Josh," Sam explained to Leo who chuckled at the thought.

"I thought my balls were in an iron vice," Josh admitted to Leo on the side. "I don't see her following anyone's lead on anything Mr President."

"You didn't see her when I was talking to her with Leo," President Bartlet shook his head. "I was almost reminded of Ellie when she was younger, coming to me with a skinned knee and wanting me to kiss it better. If Mr Harris agrees, I think she'll follow his lead on this one."

"I'll look through a few options," Leo said thoughtfully. "We may have a few choices here if we can get this nipped before the press find out, hopefully something that she will agree to in return for her silence on the matter."

"To balance out the complete eradication of her constitutional and legal rights of course," Josh muttered as he slammed the folder shut in disgust and pushed it away from himself.

"Possibly," Leo smiled thoughtfully. "The scale of corruption here goes pretty high, at least state level is obvious, though with the resignation of Governor Blanco we'd have trouble proving any higher. If Miss Lehane were to act as a witness to the fact, we would be obligated to place her in protective custody until the matter was resolved."

"Protective custody?" Josh asked, raising his eyebrow.

"A witness against crimes like this, specifically the victim of corruption that breaches her constitutional rights, would normally be placed in the witness protection scheme under WITSEC protocol." Leo explained.

"She'd be given a new identity to shield her from retribution," Sam clicked on to what Leo was saying. "The WITSEC program is protected at senate level, to infringe on WITSEC security or uncover her original name or history would be a federal crime."

"I like this idea," President Bartlet nodded slowly.

"The fact still remains that she admitted to negligent homicide sir," Leo said slowly, reminding the President of the fact. "Something I believe the secret service should be informed of, a protective detail will be issued to you at all times when you are in the room with her."

"If she was going to harm me she would have already," President Bartlet waved away the concerns.

"This does come under secret service purview sir," Leo said firmly. "Allowing a murderer access to the President is not something the secret service will take lightly."

"Fine, fine, issue your security," President Bartlet nodded in agreement. "How long would it take to move Miss Lehane's file into the WITSEC category?"

"I have just the man sir," Leo said with a firm nod. "I'll have him flown over directly."

"Good," President Bartlet nodded at that piece of good news. "Sam, you can give Miss Lehane the news, talk her through the court problems and explain the compensation procedures to her. If we're about to tell the girl her legal and constitutional rights were practically stomped over, I want something to win her trust back with. I also want a full investigation into this Wolfram and Hart, everything on or off the record; I want them to give me a damn good explanation why I should have the entire firm disbarred and dismantled to pay for Miss Lehane's compensation."

"Are they both upstairs?" Sam asked, standing up and retrieving the manila folder than Josh had pushed to the centre of the table in disgust earlier.

"Conference room one," President Bartlet nodded. "Treat them gentle, I don't want to give them any reason to run to the press with this."

"I think as long as we keep feeding her she'll be on our side Mr President," Sam smiled wryly as he moved to leave the room, leaving the President and Leo sat looking at each other.

"Is it me, or is my youngest daughter a magnet for trouble?" President Bartlet asked rhetorically, staring over at Leo.

"I couldn't say sir," Leo answered diplomatically.

"Hmm," President Bartlet nodded thoughtfully. "What do you make of all this?"

"Honestly sir?" Leo continued when the President nodded at him. "I'm beginning to wish I'd never heard of Sunnydale."

"You and me both," President Bartlet chuckled as he thought about it. "NSA projects, abuse of the legal system, corruption that makes senate politics look like schoolyard rivalries and then the town just vanishes off the face of the earth."

"If this is any indication of what happened in that town sir, I say good riddance," Leo said after a moment's thought. "I've passed on the information on the Initiative, I've got the Joint Chiefs looking in to it now sir with Homeland on standby."

"Good," President Bartlet nodded thankfully. "The sooner that is uncovered the happier I'll be."

"Mr Harris' notes does explain the use of marines just out of basic training however," Leo said thoughtfully, looking at the bit of paper both he and the President had been writing on when they spoke to the two young adults.

"How so?" President Bartlet narrowed his eyes as he asked.

"If the project was housed under UC Sunnydale, then the marines would have been able to pass as students on campus, perhaps even enrolled as students as part of their cover." Leo explained his thoughts. "Makes perfect sense if your base is hidden under a campus Mr President."

"The thought of a military base being hidden under a college campus is quite the most abhorrent cover story I could think of." President Bartlet frowned as he thought of the implications of what Leo was saying.

"I couldn't agree more Mr President." Leo nodded firmly as he thought about how many campuses there were around the country, and how many more secret projects were going on without their knowledge.

* * *

><p>"Zoey?" President Bartlet asked as he slowly pushed open the door of her hotel suite, only a floor beneath the floor the hotel had set aside for them as a whole. He'd already asked Leo to make sure Zoey's floor was guarded as well, the two other suites on the floor were marked for Mr Harris and Ms Lehane.<p>

"In here dad," Zoey called out from the bedroom.

"Yes, we're having quite the discussion," Abbey called out to let her husband know that she was there as well.

"Glad to see you two are having fun," President Bartlet commented as he walked into the bedroom.

"How did it go?" Abbey asked, looking over at her husband to see if there was any indication that she had been wrong about Alexander.

"Good, I think," President Bartlet frowned as he tried to think about it, he couldn't actually decide if this had been a good or bad result for any of them in the end.

"You explained what he's going to need to do?" Abbey asked as Zoey came over from the closet where she had been sorting some clothes out.

"Ah, we didn't quite get that far," President Bartlet frowned for a moment, they'd get back to it soon, it wasn't as if the press were going to invade the hotel for them or anything.

"But you talked to him?" Zoey asked, looking at her father carefully. "Talked, not argued, you didn't scare him did you dad?"

"I did not," President Bartlet smiled at his daughter. "I happen to think quite highly of Mr Harris now if you must know."

"He impressed you," Abbey smiled knowingly at her husband.

"He did," President Bartlet nodded in confirmation. "He's extremely loyal to his friends, a trait I find most admirable, thinks of others before himself and admitted to me he would put you before himself." President Bartlet said the last, pointing to Zoey with a smile.

"He said that?" Zoey all but squealed as she looked at her father.

"He did," President Bartlet nodded again.

"See, I told you there were feelings there," Abbey said with a small grin.

"I can't say I approve completely," President Bartlet said firmly. "But he's honest and loyal, two things I do prize, and he's willing to stand by you for as long as this takes." President Bartlet nodded over. "He also claims to be a reasonable carpenter who worked as a foreman during the rebuilding of the Sunnydale high school last year, quite an accomplishment for someone so young to be working on a municipal contract like that."

"Oh god, I've got to thank him," Zoey flushed as she moved to rush out of the room to find him.

"He's in the conference room with Miss Lehane and Sam," President Bartlet told her. "Charlie will bring him out for you."

"Thank you," Zoey said, rushing back into the room and hugging her father tightly. "Thank you so much." She said again before kissing him on his cheek and rushing out of the room again.

"Kids," President Bartlet muttered fondly as he looked at where his wife was sat on the bed.

"You like him," Abbey accused as she stood up and smiled at her husband.

"He's still hiding something," President Bartlet said calmly.

"Aren't we all," Abbey said with a shrug, knowing that her husband was just as guilty of keeping secrets, if not more so than young Alexander.

"Hmmm true," President Bartlet nodded as he looked around Zoey's room. "I'm beginning to worry that his might be darker than mine though."

"You think he's ill as well?" Abbey asked, worrying about how Zoey would react to finding out Alexander was ill like her father.

"Nothing like that," President Bartlet waved the concern away. "I just hope his secrets don't come back and bite our daughter in the ass."

"I'm sure they won't," Abbey smiled as she took her husband's hand in her own.

* * *

><p>Leo frowned to himself as he considered the situation the President's daughter had managed to get them all in now, the marriage and drunken night out was something that could be managed and handled, with Mr Harris' help they'd already put some fears to rest over the problem, hopefully it could be spun positively and work to their advantage in the long run.<p>

The problem now was Miss Lehane, having a convicted murderer talking with the President and his family was enough to pretty much end all of their careers, torpedoing any chance they had of a re-election campaign before they'd even started making headway.

This was not the sort of scandal that they needed, especially with the MS investigation still underway, having the President linked with a convicted felon was not the next story he wanted to read about in the paper. The one thing they did have in favour now was the fact that no one knew Miss Lehane had any connections to the President, no one had actually seen them together or photographed them together so far, so thankfully there was no direct link between the two of them, which was something he was now going to enforce as permanently as he could.

Picking up the phone he dialled the White House internal switchboard number quickly, knowing they would have to get this story nipped quickly before the press got any photos or quotes from Miss Lehane. "Attorney General's office," He said simply after confirming his identity and punching in his security code.

"One moment sir," The operator announced before transferring him to the direct line he'd requested.

He sat there, phone in hand, tapping his pen against the manila folder on the desk in front of him, the folder that could ruin all of their political careers if it came to light. "George?" He asked as the dial tone stopped.

"Hello?" The voice came back.

"It's Leo, sorry to call on such short notice." Leo said with a sigh as he flipped open the folder in front of him. "I need a favour, and this one's pretty delicate so it's strictly an internal matter."

"What do you need?" The Attorney General's voice came back, his tone cautious over the idea of the White House Chief of Staff calling him directly to ask for a favour.

"I'm faxing you over a copy of a file that's just come to my attention, it'll come under your direct purview while the investigation is underway," Leo explained, taking a deep breath before getting to the meat of the conversation. "This is bad George, this could sink us."

"How bad?" George asked over the line.

"Would I be calling you direct if it was something simple?" Leo asked subtly.

"Point taken," George replied simply. "I need this woman added to WITSEC today, as soon as possible, you've come to me with high profile cases before, this goes higher."

"How high?" George asked, thinking of that Cyrez snafu a few years back that almost destroyed the integrity of the U.S. Marshal's office.

"Presidential level," Leo said, not willing to say much over an open line that wasn't secured to his satisfaction.

"She's at the top of the list," George said simply, noting down the fact that Leo was cashing in one of his favours.

"I need someone out here to take care of it," Leo said simply. "Someone with Presidential clearance."

"Leo, I've only got three agents with clearance that high," George frowned over the line.

"I need one of them here today," Leo said with a sigh. "George, I need this woman erased."

"You're asking a lot," George muttered over the line. "A single day operation, getting a high profile agent out there to take care of it, replacing her identity and setting up a new one."

"I already have an idea for the Jane Doe," Leo frowned as he tried to figure out what he'd end up doing for George to pay this one back. "She's one of the Sunnydale survivors."

"Name?" George asked over the line.

"On the file I sent over," Leo said simply. "Can you get him out here today?"

"Kruger's on assignment at the moment," George sighed as he pulled up the information on the computer. "Colorado Springs, I'll have someone relieve him and forward him on to you."

"I owe you one George," Leo said thankfully as he closed the file in front of him.

"Just how close is this girl Leo?" George asked quietly.

"Close enough to light his cigarettes," Leo said simply. "I'll talk to you next chance I get."

"Speak to you then." George said before putting down the phone.

* * *

><p>"What do you think they're gonna do?" Faith asked as she paced up and down the room, barely containing the urge to bust out of the door and run as fast as he legs could carry her.<p>

"I don't know," Xander answered honestly.

"They're gonna send me back right, back to Valley State," Faith blew out a breath of air as she took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself down.

"They won't do that," Xander shook his head firmly. "The Sunnydale thing is all over the newspapers, they're not going to send one of the survivors back to jail."

"You sure?" Faith whispered as the door opened and the man from the buffet downstairs walked in carrying a manila folder.

"What's going on?" Xander asked questioningly as he watched Sam close the door behind him.

"We have come up with some new information about the legal proceedings prior to your incarceration at Valley State Correctional Facility Miss Lehane." Sam explained slowly as he moved into the room and sat down.

"You've found what now?" Faith asked, unable to follow what the man had just said.

"We believe you were imprisoned unjustly and the court case… was a sham to use terms you'd understand." Sam said after a moment's thought, remembering both Xander and Faith had asked him to use simple terms when explaining things. "Miss Lehane, I can't express how sorry we are about all of this, I've never seen just high level abuse of legal proceedings and corruption that could…" He trailed off as he noticed both Xander and Faith's eyes were glazing over with confusion. "Ok, to put it simply, we're looking into the proceedings and will be holding a full investigation into the trial."

"Wait… wha?" Faith said, her eyes going wide at what Sam had just told her. "Xand, did you…"

"I caught it," Xander nodded. "You mean the whole trial she went through was a sham?" He asked, thinking about this carefully.

"From what I can see, the prosecution service, led by a Lilah Morgan of Wolfram and Hart, were at the centre of a ring of corruption that led to your imprisonment without…" Sam trailed off as he realised he was heading into legal jargon again. "I believe Wolfram and Hart bought the trial, they were behind the sentencing and broke several of your constitutional rights in the process."

"So what does this mean for Faith" Xander asked, staring at Sam and daring him to lie to him.

"Could I speak to Miss Lehane alone for a moment please?" Sam asked, staring straight back at Xander.

"Anything you wanna tell me, you can say in front of Xand," Faith said with a shrug.

"Fine," Sam nodded in agreement, already seeing what the President meant by Faith following Xander's lead on this. "We'd like to place you in protective custody while the investigation into the trial gets underway. You'd be issued a new name, an entire new identity for your own protection to prevent the people that bought the trial from finding you."

"What?" Xander asked, leaning forward on the table when Faith looked at him for an explanation.

"We want to give you a new identity," Sam said simply. "In exchange for your cooperation in finding the people who put you in prison and bringing them to justice." Sam tried to explain as simply as he could. "You'd be given a new name, a home and would be under the protection of the federal government."

"She wouldn't go back to jail?" Xander asked, knowing the only word Faith really tagged on to in the first sentence was 'custody'.

"No," Sam said simply. "To put it simply, when the court proceedings took place, several of your constitutional rights were breached in the process; this isn't something that the federal government takes lightly."

"I'm not going back?" Faith asked again, disbelief starting to flow into her voice.

"You're not going back," Sam smiled as he shook his head.

The next thing Xander knew was he was being pushed back on his chair violently as Faith literally dove across the table, grabbing Sam in the most passionate kiss he had ever seen, he had to laugh at the sight of Faith sprawled on the table, holding Sam captive by his shirt and kissing him for everything she was worth.

"Ahem, is this a bad time?" Leo asked from where he was standing in the doorway, a soft but amused smirk playing across his face.

"Not at all," Xander grinned at the look on Sam's face as Faith pulled away from him.

"You told her then?" Leo asked as he walked into the room and closed the door behind him.

"Just about the WITSEC idea," Sam said, shock colouring his voice and a bemused expression on his face as he sank back in the chair. "I'd say she's interested in it." He coughed as he tried to straighten his tie and shirt.

"Fine," Leo nodded as he came in and sat down next to Sam, watching as Faith slid herself back off the table and onto her chair next to Xander. "I have a man being flown in to take care of it personally; your identity is being erased as we speak." Leo said simply as he slid a plain piece of paper and a pen over to Faith. "Please write down your height, weight, body type and any distinguishing marks."

"What's this for?" Xander asked, watching as Faith looked at the paper in confusion.

"Her body," Leo said with a nod. "We're effectively going to kill Miss Lehane and announce her body was recovered in the Sunnydale crater with any others found."

"What!" Faith almost screamed, getting ready for a fight instantly.

"He doesn't mean kill you!" Sam interjected quickly. "He means issue your identity to a Jane Doe, your fingerprints, dental records, your entire identity will be moved to the Jane Doe, when her body is recovered it will be identified as Faith Lehane."

"So who will I be?" Faith asked, getting the idea now.

"We will issue you with a new identity," Leo said simply. "Do you have any identification on you, passport, bank cards, driver's license?" Leo asked, nodding to the small handbag that was on the chair next to Faith.

"Smokes, never got a passport or driver's license," Faith said, her voice showing the gratitude she felt towards Leo for doing this.

"Mind if I…" He trailed off, looking at the hand bag to make sure.

"It's Zoey's bag…" Faith said protectively over what was obviously an expensive little leather handbag as she picked it up, unzipping it carefully and tipping the contents out onto the table. Her metal zippo lighter fell out first, with the half empty packet of cigarettes next.

"Lucky strikes," Leo commented as he looked at the pack of cigarettes. "Yours?" He asked, sliding the zippo across the table to pick it up.

"Diana gave me that," Faith said softly, remembering the first Christmas she'd had with her first Watcher, the small engraved zippo was the only present Diana had bought her.

"I'll need to take it," Leo said, seeing the obvious sentimental attachment she had to the small lighter. "I'll also need to take photographs of your tattoos and any scars you might have."

"If you wanted to see me naked ya shoulda just asked," Faith shot back, slipping into her old ways easily.

"Hardly," Leo scoffed at the idea, picking up the file he'd brought in along with the one Sam had in front of him. "They're for identification, we'll have similar marks placed on the body that will be found in Sunnydale crater, without any identification we'll have to rely on dental and fingerprint records, which will of course match to the woman who escaped Valley State several months ago." Leo explained as he stood up and walked over to a metal trash can in the corner of the room. "As of right now, Faith Lehane ceases to exist." He said simply as he used Faith's lighter to set fire to the offending files before dropping them in the trash can and opening the window to let the smoke out before pocketing the lighter with Faith's name engraved on the front.

"Congratulations Miss Lehane, you've just been erased."


	3. Chapter 3

Xander turned to the door immediately as the knock came, with Leo in the corner of the room noting down some details and checking them over with her, he'd been left pretty much on his own to discuss things with Sam.

"Come in," Leo shouted, not bothering even to look away from the paper he was writing on.

"Mr Harris," Charlie announced as he walked in, the two secret service agents by the doorway standing aside so he could enter properly. "Zoey is here to see you."

"Uh, can I…" Xander asked, looking over at Faith and then to Leo.

"All of this is for Miss Lehane's identity, unless she has any objections, you're free to leave." Leo said, still jotting items down on the paper.

"Faith?" Xander asked, looking over at her.

"Five by five," Faith shrugged, looking at the four men she'd be left in the room with, she wasn't actually worried about Leo or Sam, as they both seemed to be working on actually helping her, which was a big change from everything else she'd experienced with government officials so far in her life. The two other men were the two secret service agents stood at the doorway guarding the only way in or out of the room, but since she didn't actually plan on making a break for it or doing anything to get their attention, she was pretty sure she was safe from them as well.

"Ok, I'll be back in a bit ok?" Xander asked, nodding reassuringly at her before moving out of the room when she nodded back at him. He watched as Charlie closed the door quietly behind him before going back to the desk he was working at.

"Xander," Zoey smiled from the doorway into the room. "My dad said I could find you here."

"Uh, yeah, we were just sorting some stuff out," Xander said with a shrug as he walked over to the doorway and out into the corridor with Zoey. "How are you doing?"

"I'm ok," Zoey nodded. "Do you want to… you know, get a drink or something?" She asked.

"Sure," Xander smiled over, noting the two agents that were stood a discreet distance down the hallway from them. "Yours?" He asked, nodding to them.

"Part of the deal," Zoey smiled softly. "Dad's still trying to figure out how I slipped away from my one in Georgetown, think he's pretty angry at her."

"So… uh… where should we…" Xander trailed off, not exactly sure what to say or do in this situation.

"The hotel has a restaurant downstairs," Zoey smiled at him. "We could get something there?"

"Sounds good," Xander nodded as he held out his arm in a gesture for her to take the lead.

"Dad said he spoke to you," Zoey offered the start of the conversation as she led Xander towards the elevator at the end of the hallway, a secret service agent stood impassively at the metal doors. "We're just heading down to the restaurant." She explained.

"Bookbag and Pirate heading downstairs," The agent guarding the elevator said quietly into his intercom before pressing the button to call the elevator.

"Bookbag, is that you?" Xander asked with a raised eyebrow, Pirate was pretty easy to guess as his label for the moment.

"They come up with the names," Zoey said with a small smile. "Could have been worse than Pirate, you could have ended up as Cyclops or something."

"Sounds like a bad comic character," Xander chuckled as the elevator doors pinged open. "Hey, that's my bag!" Xander exclaimed as the doors opened to reveal two secret service agents stood inside, one of them carrying his rucksack that he'd left in his hotel room back in the other hotel.

"You've been assigned a suite upstairs sir," The agent carrying the bag said simply as they both moved out of the elevator to let Xander and Zoey step inside with the two agents that were now stood behind them.

"Assigned a suite?" Xander asked, looking at the agent carrying his bag and then at Zoey.

"They shuffle us around like cards," Zoey said with a wave as if she was used to this.

"Your belongings are also being moved Mrs Harris," The agent said with a nod towards Zoey. "Room three on the next floor."

"Thank you," Zoey said with a small smile.

"Mr Harris will be in suite five; Ms Lehane has been assigned to suite four." The agent explained. "Mr McGarry has your key cards."

"I'll let Faith know," Zoey said with a nod.

"Thank you ma'am," The agent said with a nod before the doors closed.

"They assigned us suites?" Xander asked in shock, looking at Zoey for an explanation, the two agents that had been following Zoey down the corridor were now stood behind them in the elevator as invisible as two large men in black suits could be.

"They always do," Zoey explained. "This floor is for my dad, he'll have a suite somewhere here with mom, probably in the middle somewhere. The secret service normally doesn't like him near hotel windows but he pretty much insists nowadays so he can go out onto a balcony or something to smoke, the rest of the rooms will be offices, conference rooms and stuff for everyone to work in." Zoey waited for Xander to nod in acceptance before continuing. "The floor below will be empty; the secret service will have cleared it out and stopped the elevator from stopping there."

"Ohhh kay…" Xander drawled as the elevator kept moving slowly downwards.

"The floor where we've been put, above my dad's floor, that's where the rest of the staff will be, Leo, Sam and the others." Zoey explained.

"Gotcha," Xander nodded, memorising the detail so he would know which floor of the hotel to head to later on when he wanted to sleep.

"I wanted to thank you," Zoey said after a moment, turning in the elevator to face Xander properly. "For helping us like this." She smiled softly before stepping forward and planting a soft kiss on Xander's cheek. "It means a lot to me."

"I… uh… ah… it's nothing," Xander stammered out, smiling down at Zoey. "I mean it was your idea and everything right, I just said yes when you and the President thought it was a good idea."

"You didn't have to though," Zoey smiled at him. "So thank you." She said softly.

"When the President asks, I'm not exactly going to say no," Xander laughed softly in the elevator. "No to mention I kinda owe him one for not killing me for marrying you drunk." He chuckled as Zoey blushed slightly.

"He likes you," Zoey said back at him, causing the laughter to stop dead.

"The President likes me?" Xander asked, dumbfounded by that one little sentence.

"He said so himself," Zoey laughed at the shocked look on Xander's face as the doors opened into the lobby of the hotel and she led him out.

* * *

><p>"Leo McGarry," Leo said by way of a greeting as he picked up the phone in his makeshift office, he was still shuffling around paperwork to deal with Miss Lehane's identity reconstruction, wanting to have at least the basics in place before the US Marshall got here to take over.<p>

"Leo, Nancy McNally." The voice on the line explained quickly, nearly causing Leo to drop the pen he was writing with.

"Doctor McNally, has something come up?" Leo asked sharply, for the White House National Security Advisor to be calling him directly normally meant something big was about to hit the fan somewhere, which would normally involve them heading back to the White House pretty much as soon as the phone call was over.

"I'm on route to Las Vegas now; I will be arriving within the hour." Doctor McNally said sharply. "Perhaps then you can explain to me why Mr Seaborn's last cell phone call tripped enough code sixteen alarms to have the Secretary of Homeland Security on the phone to me not two minutes after Mr Seaborn's call ended, in the middle of a NORAD inspection I might add."

"I have no idea," Leo answered honestly, pondering if he could viably strangle Sam without the secret service intervening.

"Not only did Mr Seaborn call a number that was on the Homeland Security's watch list, but the transcript given to me passes levels of clearance you couldn't even dream of." Doctor McNally said firmly. "I expect to see both you and Mr Seaborn with a damn good explanation for this when I arrive."

Leo continued to stare at the phone for a few moments after the dial tone sounded, the receiver still in his hand as his brain tried to figure out exactly when he'd lost control of the conversation he'd just had.

Reaching down he hung up the phone with his finger before releasing the notch and dialling Sam's cell phone number quickly, waiting for him to pick up before taking a deep breath.

"Hello?" Sam answered down the line.

"Seaborn, get your ass up here now." Leo said firmly. "I've just had the National Security Advisor on the line about your cell phone, and you'd better have a damn good explanation why." He practically yelled the last before slamming the phone down on the desk.

* * *

><p>Faith was honestly pretty dumbfounded at this point; she was simply wandering the hallways of the hotel without a single thought in her brain.<p>

She wasn't going back to prison.

That single sentence kept repeating in her mind. It was pretty much the only thing at all she could think of, the fact that they wanted to give her a new identity, hell, they'd practically gone ahead with the idea whether she'd wanted it or not. She was a free woman again, not wanted, not a fugitive, she was free.

Out of everything that had happened, finding out Xander was married, destroying Sunnydale, surviving the confrontation with The First, which was the one thing she really hadn't counted on. She always figured she'd just hand herself back in after the battle with The First, Wesley had only sprung her from prison to help with Angelus, and then Willow had brought her back to Sunnydale. She just figured that when she wasn't needed anymore that she'd go back to prison where she belonged.

But that was the point now, she now had people telling her that she didn't belong in prison, hell; the President himself had almost said exactly that. There were people who worked in the White House working right now to give her a new identity and set things straight with her.

"Miss Lehane?"

Faith looked up in shock as someone said her name, noting the black suited secret service agent stood a few feet in front of her guarding the elevator doors on this floor.

"Uh, yeah?" Faith asked, waiting for the guard to try and arrest her or take her back to see the guy that had just taken ever measurement and identifying mark on her body down on paper like he was simply taking a memo.

"Is there something I can help you with?" The guard asked simply, stepping aside so the elevator doors were visible behind him.

"No?" Faith said simply, looking at the guard. "I'm just… uh…" She looked behind her, noting the corridor where she'd walked down in a daze and the two secret service men stood a discreet distance behind her.

"Would you like to use the elevator ma'am?" The guard asked, ready to push the button to call for the elevator if she wanted it.

"Sure," Faith nodded quickly. "I mean, does this place have a gym or something, like somewhere to work out?"

"Lower Lobby two ma'am, indoor swimming pool and fitness suite," The guard explained simply.

"Thanks," Faith nodded. "Can I… is there some place I can get some clothes to work out in?" She asked, gesturing to the expensive dress of Zoey's that she was still wearing.

"I'll have someone bring something down for you ma'am," The guard said simply as he pressed the button to call the elevator.

"Thanks," Faith nodded; a bit surprised at the way the guard was simply giving her anything she wanted at this point.

"Ma'am," The guard nodded as he simply stepped aside as the elevator doors opened.

"Do you guys have names or anything?" Faith asked as she stepped inside the elevator, the two guards following her stepping inside as well and positioning themselves behind her without saying a word.

"Guess not," She muttered to herself after a few moments' silence from both men. "You know, having your names would be easier if you're going to be following me around like this." Again, no response from the two men was forthcoming. "Fine, you're Bert and you're Ernie." She smirked as she pointed to each of them in turn before pressing the button on the elevator wall for the second lower lobby.

"Tough crowd," She muttered to herself as she resigned herself to simply ignoring the two men behind her. Bert had been the taller of the two, easily a foot above her own height and built like he should have been playing football or something, the second, Ernie now, was a bit smaller, in a few inches above her own height but just as wide as Bert across the shoulders. Both had neatly trimmed brown hair and nondescript black suits just like every single other secret service agent she'd seen so far.

Weapon wise it was pretty easy, both had guns under their jackets, the shoulder holster had been visible a few times as they walked. She was pretty sure they both had ankle holsters as well as the cut of their pants seemed a bit off as they stood there. She thought she'd seen an asp or something similar in the back pocket of Ernie as he'd got into the elevator but wasn't sure on that, it could have easily been a pen or a laser pointer or something.

"Do you guys ever speak?" She asked, turning around again to look at them both. The feeling of two large men behind her as the elevator travelled slowly down was pretty uncomfortable at the moment.

Again no reaction, both of them simply looked at her impassively, not even a muscle twitch as they watched her.

"You're like those British guys right, the ones who guard the Queens Palace, never talk, no expressions right?" She smirked, trying to bait them into talking with her.

"No ma'am," Bert said, grabbing Faith's attention immediately.

"Wow, you can speak." Faith grinned at him in mock shock. "So what's with the silent treatment?" She asked simply.

"We are assigned to guard you ma'am, not talk with you." Bert said as if it was unthought-of for him to even talk with her.

"What, you can't do both?" Faith asked, a bit confused at this.

"No ma'am," Bert said with a nod. "Your floor ma'am." He said simply, barely a second before the elevator pinged and the doors opened.

"You know, you can talk you know," Faith said as she walked out of the elevator, spinning around as she walked so she could walk backwards and face the two guards following her out into the main lobby. "I'm not going to tell your boss you have personalities or anything." She grinned at them before spinning around again to watch where she was going. "So, uh…" She raised her eyebrows as another agent approached them from the side.

"Your clothes ma'am," The agent said simply, holding out a simple blue duffle bag for her to take.

"My clothes?" Faith asked questioningly, taking the duffle bag and unzipping it to look inside. "These ain't mine." She said as she looked through, there was a simple pair of grey jogging bottoms inside, a grey t-shirt and a pair of sneakers, along with a towel and some bottles with the hotel logo emblazoned on them.

"From the hotel store ma'am," The agent said simply before moving to walk back to the elevator.

"Whoa, hold up," Faith yelled, jogging past the agent to stand in front of him. "I can't afford shit like this, can't just be buying stuff from the hotel shop and handing it to me."

"It's already paid for ma'am," The agent said simply. "Do you require anything else?"

"Paid for? By who?" Faith asked, looking at the duffle bag again.

"It's all been taken care of ma'am," The agent nodded. "Will there be anything else?" He asked, looking at her expectantly.

"Uh, no, I'm good." Faith said with a shrug.

The agent simple nodded at her before walking around her and stepping back inside the elevator and pressing a button causing the doors to close. "Taken care of?" Faith asked, turning back to Bert and Ernie. "Who took care of it, what's going on?" She practically demanded.

"Think of them as gifts from the hotel ma'am," Bert said with a simple nod. "The fitness suite is this way." He said, holding out his arm to gesture off to one side of the lobby where a large sign read 'Fitness Suite'.

"Wouldn't have guessed." Faith rolled her eyes as she walked in the direction Bert had indicated. "Am I ever going to get a straight answer out of either of you?" She asked as Bert sped up his pace slightly to step in front of her and open the door leading into the fitness suite for her.

"No ma'am," Bert said simply as she walked past, he then allowed Ernie to enter after her before closing the door behind her.

"Figures," Faith muttered to herself. "You guys ain't following me in right?" She asked, coming to a stop in front of the ladies changing room door.

"We'll wait here ma'am," Bert said with a nod.

"Fine," Faith shrugged. "Didn't want to give some old lady a heart attack or anything," Faith muttered as she pushed the door to the changing rooms open and walked inside.

* * *

><p>"So?" Leo practically demanded as Sam walked in the room he was using as his office and closed the door behind him.<p>

"I don't know," Sam said honestly. "I called CJ a few times earlier, but I haven't used my cell since we got here." Sam explained, holding out the phone for Leo to check.

"Sam, the National Security Advisor doesn't call me up saying she's less than an hour out of Vegas for a mistake." Leo said with a glare as he flipped through the recent calls list. "What's this one, twelve thirty seven, a seven minute call."

"What?" Sam asked, walking over so he was stood next to Leo so he could read the phone number. "I don't know." Sam said simply.

"Fine," Leo frowned as he pressed redial on the last called button and hit the speakerphone.

"The number_ you_ have called is _switched off_, please try again later." The message said simply, the loudspeaker making it loud enough for both of them to hear in the empty office space.

"Xander," Sam said as he snapped his fingers thoughtfully. "When I took Faith down to the buffet, I let Xander use my phone to call his friends; he wanted to tell them about the relief effort the National Guard was involved in for Sunnydale."

"That doesn't sound like a conversation that would get the National Security Advisor's attention." Leo said with a frown as he snapped the phone shut. "You know all calls made to and from this number are monitored. Did you tell him that?"

"No," Sam said with a shrug. "He was just calling his friend; I didn't think there'd be a problem."

"His friend's cell phone was on the Homeland Security watch list," Leo said with a frown. "Now, is that the only number he dialled?"

"Yes," Sam nodded emphatically. "He spoke on the phone for a bit; it seemed to cheer both him and Faith up quite a bit."

"And you heard it all?" Leo asked, watching Sam intently for his reply.

"I heard bits," Sam answered honestly. "I stepped outside to give them some privacy; I thought it might be a personal call, so I didn't want them to think I was listening in."

"You left them alone with your cell phone that has god knows how many secure numbers inside?" Leo asked with a glare.

"Only for five minutes, seriously, I was just the other side of the door," Sam defended himself. "I heard them talk about the relief effort, then about some girl called Buffy singing I think, then about a holiday, camping I think was mentioned, and some brains, I think that might have been a nickname for another friend though."

"Fine," Leo said, handing the phone back to Sam. "The Security Advisor will be here soon, she wants to speak to both of us. Now, are you sure that's all they mentioned?"

"Yes," Sam nodded.

"That doesn't sound enough to trip the Homeland Security watchdogs," Leo mused thoughtfully as he leaned back on the table he was using as a desk. "Did he say which friend he was calling?"

"Dawn I think," Sam said simply. "He said someone called Buffy bought Dawn a cell phone when she started school."

"He called a teenager?" Leo asked in surprise.

"I guess so," Sam nodded.

"Why would a Sunnydale teenager be on the Homeland Security watch list?" Leo muttered thoughtfully. "Okay, fine, write down all of this so you can give it to Doctor McNally when she gets here; expect a lot of questions as well, as well as a new cell phone and number."

"Sure," Sam nodded, a bit befuddled at this turn of events.

"And keep this to yourself alright?" Leo said as Sam moved to leave the room. "I'm not sure what's going on here, probably just a glitch or something that twigged the Homeland Security system; let's not worry anyone until we get told otherwise."

"Okay," Sam nodded with a shrug.

"How's that release coming for tonight's announcement?" Leo asked, changing the topic to a more comfortable one.

"Toby's polishing it up now," Sam explained. "We think we've caught a break, in the photo of Xander in the doorway, he's clearly shown wearing a plain silver cross."

"So what?" Leo asked with a shrug.

"So he has obvious religious connotations," Sam explained. "It's well known the President is a devout catholic."

"So we have some common ground to work on, good." Leo nodded in agreement. "Don't make the speech too religious though, we don't want the PC crowd coming down on us for glorifying one religion over any others in an official release."

"Subtle but spoken," Sam nodded. "We've already got it covered."

"Good, I'll let you know when Doctor McNally gets here." Leo nodded sharply.

"See you then," Sam nodded back before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

* * *

><p>"Uh… do they just stand there like that?" Xander whispered over the table. As it was still pretty early in the day, the hotel restaurant was still reasonably quiet, with only a few dozen people scattered around eating their meals quietly, a few families, were sat with drinks and maps on the table in front of them but it was quiet enough for them to find a spot away from most of the people where they could enjoy their drinks in quiet.<p>

"The agents?" Zoey asked, not bothering to even turn around to look at where the two secret service agents were stood behind them so they had a full view of the restaurant as well as both entrances.

"They're kinda creepy," Xander said with a small laugh.

"Just ignore them," Zoey shrugged. "You'll get used to them sooner or later."

"Do they get names or tags or anything?" Xander whispered over, bending his neck to look over at the two agents standing guard over their table.

"Some do," Zoey smiled at him. "Like Gina, she was my last guard, she was pretty cool. It can take them a while to loosen up and talk to you, for the first couple of months Gina wouldn't talk to me either."

"I'll remember that," Xander shrugged as he turned back to his coke. "So… um… what now?"

"Now we talk," Zoey smiled over. "Are you sure you're ok with this, I mean, going along with this whole thing? I don't want it to cause you any trouble or anything, really." She asked in hushed tones, leaning forward on the table so their conversation definitely wouldn't be overheard.

"I'm… It's just settling in ya know?" Xander replied softly. "This morning's just been a bit hectic, meeting the President, finding out we got married, it's all just… you know?"

"Yeah," Zoey laughed softly as she took a sip of her lemonade.

"But I'm not going to run out on you or anything," Xander reassured her. "I said I'd stick by you, I might have been a bit in shock of meeting the President when I said that," He laughed nervously, remembering the limousine ride from the airport to the hotel. "But I mean it, seriously."

"Thank you," Zoey smiled over at him. "This sort of stuff could really hurt my dad, I mean his re-election campaign. He's already got enough problems with the scandal and investigation; I don't want to be the one that screws it up even more for him."

"You won't," Xander smiled at her. "He seems like a decent guy, scary as hell but cool." He laughed.

"He is," Zoey nodded with a soft smile. "He's my dad and all, but even if he wasn't I'd vote for him."

"A good guy then," Xander nodded slowly.

"One of the best," Zoey smiled back. "Honest, kind but firm, the staff around here, I mean the guys he brought with him and the others back at the White House, they're like his extended family."

"Been with them a while then?" Xander asked, wanting to know more about all the people he'd been talking to and seen moving around the President.

"Since he first started running, some of them before he was Governor," Zoey explained.

"Gotcha," Xander nodded, understanding how friends could sometimes become more than family over a period of time, especially if you saw and relied on them pretty much every day.

"So what about you?" Zoey asked, turning the conversation around. "What stories have you got?"

"Nothing exciting," Xander chuckled to himself. "I mean Sunnydale sinking into the earth was pretty much the biggest thing that's happened to me."

"I can imagine," Zoey nodded. "You must have lost everything, your home, possessions; did you manage to save anything?"

"Nope," Xander shook his head, before the final battle at the high school; he hadn't exactly packed a suitcase expecting to evacuate Sunnydale straight after the fight. If he was totally honest he hadn't actually expected to survive the last fight, but they had, they'd defeated the First Evil and destroyed Sunnydale in the process.

"What about photos, your yearbook, presents, you couldn't save any of it?" Zoey asked in shock. "It must be awful having to basically start your life all over again."

"My friends made it out, we're still alive and kicking," Xander grinned. "Can take some new photos, start again. I'd rather my flat be at the bottom of the crater than me." He chuckled as Zoey nodded in firm agreement with him on that.

* * *

><p>"Mr McGarry?"<p>

Leo looked up from the paperwork he had been going through as the door knocked and pushed open slightly. "Yes?" He called out as the secret service agent walked in the room and closed the door behind him. "Is there a problem?"

"We were moving Miss Lehane's belongings from her hotel room to the suite upstairs as requested sir," The agent explained, slowly lifting up a tattered old holdall bag for Leo to see. "We came across something unusual sir."

"Unusual?" Leo asked, wondering if it was time to go hunting for some extra strength headache tablets already. "In what way?"

"Weapons sir," The agent said simply.

"Firearms?" Leo frowned, not wanting to get into this discussion again.

"No sir, antiques." The agent shook his head. "May I?" He asked, guesting to the holdall.

"By all means," Leo nodded to the table in agreement.

"We counted a single short sword sir," The agent explained as he lifted the holdall up onto the table and unzipped it. "Two knives that match the description of Kukri sir. And, well, five wooden implements sir."

"Wooden implements?" Leo frowned over as the agent removed the sword and Kukri from the holdall and laid them out on the desk.

"Yes sir," The agent nodded, again slowly bringing out five wooden implements and laying them on the desk for Leo to examine.

"You mean stakes Agent," Leo said as he walked over and picked up one of the wooden stakes, tossing it gingerly in his hand. "Oak." He said thoughtfully as he ran his finger over the tip, noting how sharp it had been filed to.

"That's not all sir." The agent said, bringing Leo's attention back to the holdall.

"What else did she have in there?" Leo sighed, placing the stake back with the others and picking up one of the Kukri, noting from the chipped and worn blade, along with the general state of the metal itself, that it was in most terms, definitely an antique.

"Several vials of water with a silver crucifix contained in each and two large wooden crosses, each approximately ten inches in length sir." The agent explained simply.

"What is this, a Bram Stoker novel?" Leo muttered to himself as the agent removed the other objects and placed them on the table with the others. "Was this everything?"

"Yes sir," The agent nodded. "There were no clothes found at Miss Lehane's hotel room, to be honest sir it looked like the room hadn't even been used. No clothes or belongings were found in the room, this bag was the only item that was not hotel issued and was placed under the bed out of clear view.

"Thank you," Leo nodded, dismissing the agent before turning his attention back to the set of weapons and other items now on his table. "I'm in the twilight zone," Leo muttered to himself as he picked up the short sword that was left on the desk, noting it too looked a reasonable age, not as worn or aged as the Kukri but definitely antique. He put the sword down gently when he phone rang, placing the sword gently back where he'd taken it from before moving over to answer the phone. "Leo McGarry?"

"Sir, we have a gentleman in the lobby to see you." The voice of one of the agents down at the main lobby came clear over the phone line.

"Name?" Leo asked firmly.

"John Kruger sir, he has identification from the US Marshall's office." The agent explained.

"I'll be right down," Leo said sharply before hanging up the phone and turning back to face the weapons on his desk. Shaking his head at the collection of what looked to be vampire hunting equipment on the table he simply walked past it, ignoring them for the minute before walking out of the room and closing the door securely behind him and waving over one of the secret service guards that was patrolling this floor. "No one goes in or out of that room until I return." He said simply before walking off towards the elevator.

"Where is Miss Lehane?" Leo asked the elevator guard as he pressed the button to call the elevator for him.

"Location of Miss Lehane?" The agent asked softly, pressing his earpiece to activate the private intercom system. He nodded after a moment before turning back to Leo. "Miss Lehane is in the fitness suite on lower lobby two sir."

"Good," Leo nodded as the elevator doors pinged and opened for him. "Ask the agents to keep here there; I'll be with her in five minutes."

"Yes sir," The agent said as the elevator doors closed.

* * *

><p>"So what else do you like?" Zoey laughed, finding herself to actually really enjoy spending time with Xander. He was funny, didn't take himself too seriously and had some good stories to tell, so far the last half hour or so had been the most fun she'd had in months. "You do have hobbies right, other than falling off of skateboards when a cute girl walks by?"<p>

"Sure," Xander grinned at her. "Sometimes I can just fall over my own feet when a cute girl walks by." He laughed at her rolling her eyes at him. "Seriously though, I'm a pretty simple guy when it comes down to it. Give me my friends, some work for me to get on with, and I'm pretty much good to go."

"You like comics though," Zoey smiled at him. "And movies?"

"Who doesn't?" Xander shrugged.

"Do you play chess?" Zoey asked curiously.

"Giles tried to teach me once," Xander said after shaking his head. "He kept getting annoyed when I called the knight a horse."

"And I bet you did it more just to annoy him." Zoey guessed correctly.

"Yup," Xander grinned with a nod.

"You should learn," Zoey smiled softly at him. "My dad taught me when I was growing up; he says it's the perfect form of strategy and diplomacy."

"The President plays chess?" Xander asked in amusement. "I should get him to play Giles sometime; he'd probably get a kick out of that."

"Giles?" Zoey asked, gently prodding the conversation further. "Another friend of yours?"

"Hmmm?" Xander asked as he took another sip of his coke.

"You've mentioned him a few times, along with Buffy and Willow." Zoey explained.

"Ahh, yeah, Giles, I guess he's like the dad of our group," Xander tried to explain. "He's British, or English, I never really got the difference there, he used to be our librarian back in school, I guess we all just kinda stayed in touch." Xander explained, doing his best to cover up Giles' story with a semi-plausible explanation.

"I know how that is," Zoey laughed. "The librarian at our school, Mrs Matheson, she was my favourite. I always used to go into the library during study hall and talk with her; she knew what sort of books I liked so she kept some of the good ones behind for me when they first came in."

"Giles did that," Xander said with a grin. "Well, kept books behind the counter for Willow and Buffy, I was normally hiding comics in the thicker ones while pretending to read."

"Not a big reader then?" Zoey asked curiously.

"I guess," Xander shrugged. "I mean I kinda just picked it up along the way, with school projects and stuff." He added quickly. "Then studying for my Project Engineer's course on site, I had technical manuals and training courses, my boss thought it was worth it though."

"You enjoy your work then?" Zoey asked, interested in the thought of Xander working on a building site.

"Yeah," Xander nodded with a smile. "I mean I started on it just for some spare cash really, you know, bit of digging here, some dry walling once I got good at it, bit of wood work, you know, replacing window frames and stuff." Xander shrugged before taking another mouthful of his coke. "After a while the boss must have thought I was good at it or something, he talked me into the Project Engineer's course and then it sorta snowballed from there."

"So you're an engineer?" Zoey asked, trying to figure out exactly what Xander's profession really was.

"Not really," Xander shook his head. "I worked as the site foreman for about a year while the boss put me through the Project Engineer course, it's not really a course for engineers, so don't know why they call it that, anyway, it's sort of the middle person between foreman and management. I meet with clients, supervise crews on the job, deal with blueprints and planning stuff, you know, paperwork."

"So like a junior manager then?" Zoey asked, surprised that Xander was at such a high position given his age.

Xander just stopped, with his glass of coke mid-way to his mouth. "Uh, yeah, wow, I never really thought about it like that."

"So you were on track for management then?" Zoey asked curiously.

"Don't know about that," Xander laughed before putting his coke down. "I mean I met with clients and all, but I was better at being on the projects rather than pushing papers around."

"My dad says that's how the best people are," Zoey smiled over. "Wanting to get their hands dirty, not just sit on the side-lines."

"Sounds like he's talking about soldiers," Xander laughed.

"He probably was," Zoey laughed back.

* * *

><p>"John," Leo nodded in greeting as he walked through the lobby to greet the man he had been waiting for. "Glad you could come on such short notice."<p>

"I was in Colorado," John said as he shook Leo's hand firmly. "Pauley called and said you had a problem."

"Let's walk shall we?" Leo said as he gestured away from the public lobby they were in. "I have a potential witness I need taken care of."

"Pauley said it was delicate," John said, his accent making the word 'delicate' sound like a curse word.

"That's the polite way of putting it," Leo explained as he pressed the button to call the elevator back. "Actually, let's take the stairs." He said after a moment.

"Sure," John nodded as he followed Leo back across the lobby to the stairwell.

"You already have presidential clearance, and I assume you've been following the news." Leo explained once they were in the privacy of the stairwell.

"The marriage," John nodded as he walked down the stairs next to Leo.

"Precisely," Leo said with a nod.

"The husband?" John asked casually as he followed Leo's lead down another flight.

"A friend of his," Leo explained. "Female, twenty years old, victim of corruption that hits at least governor level."

"I see what you mean," John nodded firmly.

"There's something off about this one though," Leo said, pausing on the stairwell. "The secret service went through her things when they moved her bags into the hotel, standard procedure as you know."

"Of course," John nodded firmly, knowing too well the security the secret service had in place was almost impeccable.

"No clothes, no jewellery, no cosmetics," Leo said with a frown. "Only a bag full of antique weapons, holy water and stakes."

"Her name isn't Hellsing by any chance is it?" John chuckled softly.

"Lehane," Leo said as he started walking again, coming up on the second lower lobby level now. "Faith Lehane." As he said her name he retrieved the zippo he had taken from her and handed it over to John for his inspection. "No driver's license, no passport."

"It'll make things easier." John nodded. "I already have her records; Pauley said you had an idea already in place."

"Sunnydale," Leo said simply as he pushed the door open that lead into the lower lobby area. "She was a resident during the catastrophe."

"Rescue effort?" John asked, seeing where this was going already.

"Underway," Leo nodded. "National Guard along with FEMA are on site providing rescue assistance and investigating the cause of the catastrophe."

"Survivors?" John asked, he'd been following the Sunnydale Catastrophe in the news but had been too busy to actually really give it his full attention.

"None found so far," Leo admitted as he led the way through into the fitness suite area. "They're finding bodies by the day, most without any form of identification or crushed beyond reconstruction capabilities; they're relying on dental and finger print records half the time to identify the bodies."

"My god," John frowned as the actual scope of the Sunnydale Catastrophe hit him.

"I've seen the pictures John," Leo frowned over. "Girls younger than this one, crushed by falling rubble or burnt by ruptured gas mains, without dental records identification would be impossible."

"Makes our job easier," John frowned, not liking the idea that the Sunnydale Catastrophe could be seen in anyone's book as a way to make things easier.

"And this, is Miss Lehane." Leo said by way of introduction, nodding to the young woman currently on one of the blue training mats moving through a slow but focused martial art of some sort. "She's a spitfire John, watch yourself." He smirked over at John before nodding to Faith. "Miss Lehane, might I have you for a few minutes?"

"Sure," Faith nodded, having heard their conversation easily from her position on the mat while she worked out. "What's up?" She asked, grabbing the bottle of water from the side of the mat as she walked over.

"Miss Lehane, John Kruger," Leo introduced the two. "John's a good friend of mine down at the US Marshall's office; he's the one who will be arranging you protection." Leo paused before looking around the fitness suite, checking with the secret service agents that they were alone and receiving a simple nod in return.

"Already got Bert and Ernie over there following me around," Faith shrugged before taking a deep drink from her water bottle. "Don't really need the terminator here as well." She smirked, noting the tall and well-built frame of the new man in the room.

"He's not here to guard you," Leo said with a frown. "He's here to arrange your new name and identity."

"Oh right, so you're the one that's gonna kill me right?" Faith asked, turning to the larger man who had come in with Leo.

"Only if you ask nicely," John said sarcastically.

"See, this one I like," Faith grinned at him. "What, the personality sucker didn't get around to you yet like those two?"

"He's a US Marshall, not a secret service agent," Leo said, the headache threatening to form again. "Smartass comments are part of the package down there."

"Then we'll get along fine," Faith grinned. "Pretty good shape too, work out?"

"About three fifty bench," John said with a small smirk.

"Lightweight," Faith smirked back. "Fine, so what's first then?"

"I'll leave you two too it," Leo said with a nod. "I assume you won't be needing these two anymore?" He asked, nodding to the two secret service agents who were stood at the walls edge simply watching them.

"Didn't ask for them in the first place," Faith shrugged.

"Forget I asked," Leo muttered, rolling his eyes and dismissing the two agents. "Also, one other question Miss Lehane."

"Shoot," Faith shrugged as she sat down on the bench next to the exercise mat and started doing some cooling down stretches.

"The secret service brought your bag from your hotel room over," Leo explained quickly. "They searched it as procedure dictates and found several weapons along with some curious artefacts."

"Artefacts?" Faith asked, pausing in her stretching to see if she could figure out what the hell Leo was talking about.

"Holy water, wooden stakes, wooden cross," Leo shrugged. "An antique sword, two Kukri."

"Oh, yeah," Faith nodded, internally cursing Buffy for wanting to leave her some slaying kit when they'd left Vegas without her. "It's… um… stuff from Sunnydale, right, Giles, one of the guys who came with us, he used to collect this stuff, you know, old swords and shit."

"I thought it might be something like that," Leo muttered wryly. "You'll understand that we can't allow you to run around the hotel with swords Miss Lehane, the bag will be stored with the secret service until the weapons can be returned to this 'Giles' friend of yours. The crosses, holy water and stakes will be placed in your room, don't let me catch you wandering the halls at night with them, the secret service are likely to shoot first and check later."

"No big," Faith shrugged softly as she stood up from the bench. "Giles let me use the sword for Tai Chi, said it was good for poise or something."

"I'll have a wooden staff or something worked up for you to replace it," Leo rolled his eyes. "I'll leave you in John's capable hands then, I'm sure you two will get along famously." He smirked to himself as he turned to leave the fitness suite, leaving John and Faith simply looking at each other.

"Let's go." John said simply before turning around.

"Go, where?" Faith asked, a bit surprised at this sudden turn.

"Sunnydale." John said simply, without even breaking his stride as he walked back to the main doors that led to the lower lobby area.

* * *

><p>President Bartlet frowned to himself as he sat alone in the room that had been designated as his office, he had a copy of three different high profile Washington newspapers, each of them had the same story on the front, his daughter's wedding in Las Vegas.<p>

Thankfully most of the stories in all three newspapers were speculation, while the newspapers did have information about Zoey, her history dating Charlie Young and the assassination attempt that followed, the same attempt that had left him being shot though the side last year by white supremacists.

The fact was, most of the story meat in the papers wasn't actually focused on the bride or groom, but actually focused on the question of why they had been married in what appeared to be a secret ceremony away from both the bride's family and the groom's family. All three papers seemed to have picked up on the fact that the bride and groom were alone at the wedding chapel, without the Presidential family or the unknown groom's family.

Putting the newspaper down for a moment he stood up in thought, opening the window behind him before picking a cigarette out of his pocket and lighting it. Nodding to himself after a moment he turned back to the main room and picked up the phone on his desk. "Charlie," He asked as Charlie from the office next door answered the phone. "Can you have Sam come in here?"

He paused for a moment as Charlie agreed respectfully before putting the phone down, turning back to the window and blowing a puff of smoke out into the afternoon air. He had the beginnings of a plan now, but needed a bit more information before putting everything together the way he was thinking about it.

He stood there for a few moments, quietly enjoying the warm breeze flowing outside the window from the native desert air, quite different to the cold Washington DC air he was used to braving when stepping outside of the Oval Office for a cigarette. His thoughts were again interrupted by a knock at the door. "Yes?" He asked sharply, turning away from the window to face the room.

"You asked to see me Mr President?" Sam asked as he walked into the room, closing the door behind him.

"Yes, thank you." President Bartlet nodded as he gestured for Sam to take a seat at the table he was currently using as his desk. "Have you read these?" He asked, indicating the newspapers on the table.

"Yes sir," Sam nodded after scanning the newspaper names quickly.

"What's your take on this?" President Bartlet asked thoughtfully as he sat down.

"Well sir, CJ is preparing a release for this afternoon, it should be going out at five pm ET, we haven't got much to give them, Mr Harris' name, a bit of background information, that he's a Sunnydale refugee and will be staying married to your daughter sir." Sam explained slowly. "Until we give them more, they're either going to keep digging until they find something, or we give them something they haven't got yet."

"My thoughts exactly," President Bartlet nodded in agreement. "I want to give them something."

"Ok Mr President." Sam nodded simply. "What?"

"A small interview with Mr Harris and Zoey, obviously by camera, on a delay, perhaps two minutes so we can vet the questions as they come in." President Bartlet nodded. "Some photographs of the two of them, ideally something that would replace the photo they currently have of Mr Harris naked with my daughter in the background."

"Mr President, not to overstep my bounds or anything…" Sam begun to explain but was interrupted.

"Go ahead," President Bartlet nodded his acceptance for Sam to continue.

"The photo they have, the scandalous one, is the first photo after the wedding of the two of them." Sam explained slowly, cautious to phrase his wording so it couldn't be taken as offensive towards anyone. "If we're to issue them a photo, or several photos, it would have to be something big enough for the papers to replace talk of that picture with the new ones."

"I'd thought about that," President Bartlet nodded. "Wedding photos."

"They already have the one photo issued by the Hilton Chapel Mr President," Sam reminded him respectfully.

"A black and white grainy photograph depicting my daughter and her groom in rented costumes at a Star Trek themed chapel," President Bartlet glared over. "What about releasing photographs of the happy bride and groom done professionally? A proper wedding photograph that would make me proud to look at on the cover of our nations newspapers."

"We organise a photo-shoot," Sam cottoned on to the idea. "Redress the wedding, a proper wedding dress for your daughter and tuxedo for Mr Harris. I think the press would love it Mr President."

"So do I." President Bartlet nodded in agreement.

"Would Mr Harris and your daughter agree to it sir?" Sam asked cautiously.

"They would if I asked." President Bartlet nodded. "Get it organised."

"Yes Mr President." Sam nodded before standing up from the table.

"One more thing," President Bartlet said, causing Sam to pause as he stood up.

"Yes sir?" Sam asked, wondering what else the President was going to ask of him.

"Find out what you can about Mr Harris… Mr Harris, I can't keep calling him that, he's my son-in-law for as long as this lasts for Christ's sake," President Bartlet sighed before continuing. "Alexander, Find out what you can on Alexander's parents, see if you can get them here. That way we can brief them and discuss this with them before the press track them down."

"There's a problem there Mr President," Sam said with a frown, sitting back down at the table.

"Oh?" President Bartlet asked, raising his eyebrow as he stubbed his cigarette out in the ash tray on the windowsill before sitting down again.

"I received word about twenty minutes ago sir, I'd already put feelers out looking for Mr Harris' family to talk to them before the press got there." Sam explained. "I was trying to find a way to talk to Mr Harris in private when you called for me sir."

"What is it?" President Bartlet asked, knowing the look of concern on Sam's face wasn't there unless it was something bad.

"They're dead sir," Sam said softly. "The bodies of Anthony and Jessica Harris were discovered by FEMA search and rescue operatives early this morning. They didn't make it out of Sunnydale Mr President."

"Does Alexander know?" President Bartlet asked after a moment.

"I don't believe so sir; the names of the deceased haven't been released to the newspapers or television crews yet." Sam explained. "I can inform him if you wish Mr President."

"No," President Bartlet said, standing up slowly. "I'll do it; he deserves to hear it from me."

"Yes sir," Sam said respectfully as he stood up.

"Organise the photo-shoot for the day after tomorrow, you can tell CJ we'll issue high quality photos with full information about Mr Harris to the press on Wednesday evening, ready for the Thursday morning edition."

"Yes sir," Sam nodded again. "Will that be all Mr President?"

"Yes, thank you," President Bartlet nodded thoughtfully. "Do you know where Alexander or my daughter are?"

"They were both downstairs in the restaurant last time I checked sir," Sam replied simply, it had only been ten minutes or so ago since he'd asked for their location, so it was a fair bet they were still there.

"Fine," President Bartlet nodded in thanks.

"I'll call CJ now sir, shall I inform her of Mr Harris' parents situation?" Sam asked thoughtfully.

"No," President Bartlet shook his head. "It'll come out sooner or later, but Alexander deserves to know before anyone else."

"Yes sir," Sam nodded simply before leaving the room and closing the door softly behind him.

* * *

><p>Back at the White House, CJ was not having the best day, in fact, with the exception of the nine eleven disaster, this was ranking up as the second worst day she'd actually had since setting foot in the White House.<p>

"CJ?" Donna asked, poking her head around the door to her office.

"Donna, nice to actually see someone." CJ breathed with a smile. "Come on in."

"Yeah, feels kind of weird here with everyone gone," Donna agreed as she stepped in the office. "Have you got a minute?"

"Sure," CJ nodded as she put down the paper she had been reading through. "What's the problem?"

"Not really a problem, more of a question." Donna asked. "You remember that British Ambassador a few months back, Lord Sir John something or other."

"Lord John Marbury," CJ nodded with a grimace, remembering the drunk, womanizing, British Ambassador pretty well.

"I just heard, he's on his way over," Donna said apologetically.

"Why, he's not on any schedules or appointments." CJ frowned as she tried to think why the British Ambassador would be coming to the White House. "Has he been told the President isn't here?"

"I didn't speak to him," Donna said defensively.

"Find out who did, and get me his number." CJ frowned. "We don't need Ambassadors wandering the White House without anyone here to greet or meet with them."

"I'll get on it," Donna said with a nod.

"Sorry, I know it wasn't your fault," CJ sighed, smiling over at Donna. "It's just that everyone's coming to me with questions, instructions, wanting instructions, wanting me to check things. I'll be happy once everyone's back here and we're all back to normal."

"Here here," Donna nodded with a small smile. "I'll go and see what I can find on Lord Marbury."

"Thanks Donna," CJ smiled over before picking up her piece of paper again and trying to find where she was in reading through it.

* * *

><p>"Dad." Zoey said abruptly, noting the secret service agents abruptly stiffened for a moment before looking around and noting her father had just walked into the restaurant with his own three secret service agents.<p>

"Mr President," Xander pretty much jumped to his feet instantly, sliding back on the chair so fast that it tipped away backwards behind him as he stood up and clattered to the floor.

"Would you get that," President Bartlet said, nodding to one of the secret service agents that had already been stood over Alexander and Zoey.

"Sorry, I can…" Xander said as be bent over, only to have the secret service agent beat him to it and pick up the chair quietly.

"Sam told me you were both down here," President Bartlet said. "Might I have a word?" He asked, gesturing to the table.

"Sure," Zoey smiled at him, sitting back down at the table and motioning for him to join them.

"I meant with Alexander," President Bartlet said quietly. "You'll understand this is a private matter."

"Oh, uh, sure," Zoey nodded slowly, trying to figure out what private matter her father would want to talk about with Xander for.

"Walk with me," President Bartlet said, motioning to Xander. "Don't worry, I'll return him in one piece."

"I'll be upstairs," Zoey smiled over at Xander before nodding with a smile to her father.

"Fine," President Bartlet nodded as he started walking out of the restaurant.

"Uh, Mr President?" Xander asked, walking quickly to catch up to the President but keeping a step or so behind him.

"Not here," President Bartlet said simply as they walked through the hotel lobby and towards one of the conference rooms where the hotel had set out the buffet for them earlier.

"Ohh kay," Xander said softly as he simply followed the President in silence through the hotel until they reached the conference room doors.

"Wait here," President Bartlet said simply to the three secret service agents with him before moving into the conference room. "Alexander?" He said, motioning for Xander to join him.

"Oh, sorry, I thought you meant me to wait with them." Xander said as he quickly moved inside the room and closed the doors behind them.

"Ahh, good," President Bartlet nodded, noting the room had been set up for the evening buffet already, with tables set but the main buffet area still empty of food. He walked through the room, pretty much on a straight line, moving around the already dressed tables before stopping at the wet bar at the far end of the room. "Do you drink Alexander?"

"Uh, not really sir." Xander admitted. He'd drunk a few times, a few beers when out at the bronze with Buffy and Willow, but as a rule he rarely drank at all for fear of turning into his father.

"Pour yourself one," President Bartlet said simply, moving to sit on one of the high stools that were fixed in front of the wet bar for patrons.

"Yes sir," Xander nodded quickly, moving to the bar before pausing at the hinged doorway that led behind the bar.

"It's alright, if anyone comes in, you're with me." President Bartlet nodded firmly.

"Yes sir," Xander nodded in acceptance before pushing the hinged door aside and stepping behind the bar.

"Now, what do you drink?" President Bartlet asked simply, crossing his arms on the bar as he watched Xander standing awkwardly on the other side.

"I've had beer before sir, a few cocktails at parties," Xander explained, looking around the extremely clean and polished bar.

"You see that bottle on the back?" President Bartlet asked, pointing to a bottle on the back shelf. "Johnny Walker, blue label."

"Yes sir?" Xander asked, reaching for the bottle.

"That bottle goes for over three hundred dollars," President Bartlet informed him, smirking softly when Xander nearly dropped the bottle in shock. "Pour yourself one."

"Uh, I can't afford…" Xander started to object but stopped when the President held up his hand.

"This one's on me," President Bartlet said. "Pour one for me as well while you're at it."

"Yes sir," Xander said, slowly taking off the suit jacket he was wearing and folding it neatly over the bar before fetching two small glasses. "Uh, ice sir?"

"Sacrilege," President Bartlet said seriously. "Waters down the taste, never put ice in a good Scotch."

"Yes sir," Xander nodded, accepting the advice and committing it to memory as he fetched two shot glasses from the glass shelf and checked they were clean before placing them on the bar.

"Dear god, have you ever worked behind a bar before?" President Bartlet asked in horror at the two shot glasses.

"No… no sir." Xander said as he wondered what he'd done wrong this time.

"Switch places," President Bartlet said as he stood up, taking off his own suit jacket and folding it on the bar next to Xander's. "Come on, I haven't got all day." President Bartlet said wryly as he motioned for Xander to get out of the bar area so he could step behind there.

"Sorry sir," Xander said quickly, putting the shot glasses back where they'd come from before moving out of the bar area quickly and holding the door open for the President.

"Good," President Bartlet nodded as he stepped behind the bar and rolled up his sleeves. "Now, a proper whisky is aged for over six years, a good whisky over twelve, and an expensive bottle of Scotch for over eighteen." President Bartlet paused, looking at Xander who was stood on the other side of the bar paying rapt attention. "Sit down for god's sake; you're making the place look untidy." He frowned until Xander gingerly sat down on the stool next to the one he had been sat at a few moments ago.

"Now, as I was saying, this whisky is aged over twenty-five years, it's a blended whisky, meaning it's a blend of different malt whisky's from all over Scotland." President Bartlet explained as he slowly unscrewed the cap, noting that this was actually a completely fresh bottle that hadn't been opened yet.

"You serve whisky in tumblers, like this." President Bartlet explained as he brought two small glass tumblers up from the glass shelf. "Which is how the sacrilegious can add ice or mixers to their drink." He paused, placing the two tumbler glasses on the bar. "Did you know, Blue Label was actually President Nixon's choice drink, he would mix it with ginger ale and a slice of fresh lemon."

"Uh, no sir, I didn't know that." Xander said simply, still feeling extremely awkward sat at a bar with the President of the United States serving drinks across the bar and lecturing him on Scotch whisky.

"Well there you go," President Bartlet said. "Now, you can tell a good scotch from how it pours, watch the way the liquid hits the bottom of the glass and splashes up slowly," President Bartlet explained as he slowly poured a generous measure into the first tumble. "See how it sticks to the side of the glass slightly, cheap whisky doesn't do that."

"I'll watch for that in future sir," Xander said with a nod, committing that piece of knowledge to memory in case he was quizzed later on this.

"Good," President Bartlet nodded as he poured another measure into the second tumbler, just as slow and deliberate as he had done the first time. "Now, I didn't bring you here just to discuss whisky Alexander."

"No sir." Xander said with a shake of his head, not knowing quite why the President had brought him in here in private but figuring it wasn't for a whisky appreciation meeting.

"I have some bad news," President Bartlet said softly. "I wanted to be the one to tell you this in person, rather than you hear it from someone else on my staff or from the press." President Bartlet paused, pushing the tumbler of whisky forward until it was in front of Xander.

"Sir?" Xander asked, unsure what exactly the President was getting at.

"I received word a few moments ago that your parent's bodies were identified in the Sunnydale crater," President Bartlet said softly. "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this."

"They're… they're dead?" Xander asked, in shock at what he was being told.

"I'm afraid so," President Bartlet nodded. "FEMA officials identified the bodies and contacted Sam about it approximately half an hour ago, I was in a meeting and didn't get told until just before I came down to see you."

"They… they didn't get out of Sunnydale?" Xander asked in a soft voice.

"I'm afraid not," President Bartlet said softly. "Reports do suggest they both didn't suffer, it appears to have been a quick death for them both if that's any consolation."

"I… thank you sir," Xander said softly, still staring across the bar at nothing in particular, his brain pretty much shutting down over what he'd been told.

"Would you like that drink now?" President Bartlet asked, motioning to the glass in front of him with the whisky still inside.

"Y… yes please." Xander nodded his head slowly.

"To your parents," President Bartlet said, raising his glass in a toast. "Anthony and Jessica Harris, may they rest in peace."

"Thank you Mr President," Xander said softly, raising his glass and tapping it against the President's own glass before taking a sip of the amber liquid inside and nearly choking at the taste.

"Sorry," President Bartlet smiled apologetically. "It can take a bit to get used to, you can have something smoother if you'd prefer."

"It's alright sir," Xander said slowly, taking another sip and grimacing at the taste. "My dad would want me to finish it sir."

"Ahh, a whisky aficionado?" President Bartlet asked as he took a sip out of his own glass.

"Uh, yes sir," Xander said softly. "He, uh, he liked a lot of different brands, mostly rum actually sir."

"A sailor," President Bartlet nodded in appreciation. "To your father than, may he rest in peace."

"Thank you sir," Xander said, raising his glass in appreciation and nodding to the sky in thanks. "To you dad." He whispered softly before draining the rest of the glass down in one swallow.

* * *

><p>"Hmmm?" Giles mused to himself as he turned his attention from the rather inane pulp fiction romance novel he had been reduced to reading over to the phone that was in the corner of his quaint little cabin.<p>

They'd found quite a nice secluded spot out by the Callville Bay area, there had been reports from several independent hunters that this area had at least one next of Wendigo close by, so Buffy had taken the entire force of the new Slayers out on a field trip, more of a hunt really, with camping overnight included.

Which left him alone, in peace and solitude for a night at least, which he couldn't have been more grateful for. They'd stopped off at the Callville resort earlier in the day to pick up some basic supplies, essentials and a few minor luxuries, the two of which he had insisted upon were a kettle and a box of tea bags. It wasn't the tea leaves and strainer he was used to that he'd brought specifically over to Sunnydale when he'd first been called as Buffy's watcher, but for the moment they would suffice.

"Hello?" Giles asked curiously, picking up the phone and wondering if it was the site manager calling to say there had been a problem with the money transfer going through.

"Ahh, good, seems those damn mages can do a good job when you ask them to." The voice came over the line surprising Giles for a moment, specifically for the reason that it was a fellow English voice, not an American accent as he'd been used to hearing for so long.

"I'm sorry, but who is this?" Giles asked carefully as he put the pulp novel down on the table and focused his attention on the call.

"Dreadfully sorry, forgot my manners in all the hoopla," The voice continued. "Lord John Marbury at your service. I tell you, you wouldn't believe the problems in finding a Council certified Mage in this countries capitol, quite a mess I tell you."

"Lord Marbury," Giles practically stuttered out as he subconsciously stood straighter in the empty room. "My apologies sir, I wasn't expecting your call."

"Quite alright Rupert, I wasn't expecting to be calling you either," Lord Marbury's voice dripped with irony as he continued. "I wasn't actually expecting you to be alive at all given the circumstances, but here you are."

"Ahem, yes, well, it seems Death will have to wait another day for his prize," Giles smiled thinly even knowing Lord Marbury couldn't see it.

"Chased the bugger off again have you, good for you." Lord Marbury laughed down the line. "Not really a social call as you can imagine, seems we have a slight pickle on our hands here."

"May I ask what you are referring to?" Giles asked respectfully, the only member of the actual Watcher's Council to survive the First's attacks was definitely someone to be treated with respect, even if Quentin Travers had never let him in the old Watchers headquarters and disliked him immensely, well, more to the point it was precisely for those reasons that Giles actually respected Lord Marbury because of the fact that he had a tendency to foil and insult Quentin Travers at any given opportunity.

"The Council of course, what the devil do you think I could be calling for?" Lord Marbury sighed down the line.

"Well, yes, of course," Giles stuttered, taking off his glasses and cleaning them. "You are of course the most senior Watcher to survive the attacks made on the Council; it's natural that you would be rebuilding the Watchers Council."

"Oh tosh," Lord Marbury muttered down the line. "I have no intention of leading the Council or rebuilding it. I was only inducted because that prick Travers wanted the backing of my family to add to his influence, if he'd have had his way I would have never even been named in the succession rites."

"Be that as it may Lord…" Giles started but was cut off by Lord Marbury's continued banter.

"And then there was this incident in the newspapers, shocking news, I believe it even made the papers back in England."

"The destruction of Sunnydale?" Giles asked thoughtfully. "I admit it wasn't quite the outcome we were attempting, though fully closing an active Hellmouth isn't something that had ever been accomplished before."

"You and your merry band wiped an entire American town of the face of the planet," Lord Marbury said dryly. "Quite alright though, dreadful place anyway, too hot and dry for my tastes, glad I never got to visit the place really, besides which, I have the dreadful notion that I will be rather busy of late dealing with affairs of which I have yet to inform you on, so if you wouldn't mind stopping your babbling for the moment I would like to continue." Lord Marbury said wryly before pausing. "As of, say midnight tonight, Greenwich time of course, I have arranged for full succession rites over the Watchers Council holdings and assets to be transferred to you."

"I… I beg your pardon?" Giles stammered out, practically falling into the chair that was by the table holding the phone. "Could you repeat that please?"

"I have arranged for your name to be added to the succession rites after mine, as the Giles family holdings have been part of the Watchers Council for over three hundred years now, your claim to the Council holdings and leadership supersedes my own. Congratulations dear boy." Lord Marbury laughed down the phone.

"Lord Marbury, I can't… I don't think that…" Giles stammered out, trying to find the right way to phrase his opposition to this idea.

"Nonsense," Lord Marbury laughed. "Now with that trivial nonsense out of the way, we can enter into the real matter of this call."

Giles couldn't help but roll his eyes, only Lord Marbury would call changing the entire succession rites of the Watchers Council itself 'trivial nonsense'. Dragging his hand down his face he frowned as he tried to think about what reason other than the Council matters Lord Marbury could actually be calling him about.

"I assume you do know the succession rite passages?" Lord Marbury asked down the line. "Well of course you do, but let me refresh your memory in case those dreadful American's have managed to corrupt that last true bastion of civilised nature in your mind." Lord Marbury paused before opening some paper on his end of the call. "Paraphrasing of course as the Latin doesn't really translate well to modern English."

"Naturally," Giles muttered in a bemused tone.

"Well, to put it bluntly, to be named as Successor Prime to the Watchers Council rites, such a person must be inducted into nobility as a Knight Bachelor or be of hereditary knighthood blood." Lord Marbury explained simply. "So you can imagine the call I got from several people this morning asking why your name had been automatically added to the knighthood registrar without informing Her Royal Highness."

"Yes, I can imagine the conversation Lord Marbury," Giles said as he continued to massage his forehead.

"Ahh yes, you see, I've been fielding phone called from dozens of people demanding to know what was going on with the Watchers Council holdings, as you can imagine, it's quite a mess, most of the British holdings have been obliterated. Liquid assets and monetary funds are of course being transferred back and forth as we attempt to clear this up as quickly as possible." Lord Marbury explained. "And that, dear fellow, is why I am here."

"Here?" Giles asked, wondering if the insane man on the other end of the line actually knew that he couldn't see down the damnable phone line. "Lord Marbury," Giles started but was cut off again.

"John, please, or I shall have to start calling you Sir Rupert with all the pomp I can muster," Lord Marbury laughed wryly.

"John," Giles said seriously. "Extending a knighthood is not a simple procedure, especially under these circumstances. I do have obligations here, my Slayer, not to mention the simple fact that my entire sum of possessions, including my passport and documents, are now at the bottom of a very large crater, if not scattered wildly through a hell dimension of untold origins. It is not a simple matter of flying to England to have Her Royal Highness knight me quickly before flying back for supper."

"Well of course not, anyone who would have thought that should have been shot," Lord Marbury chuckled. "Of course this has to be handled diplomatically and with the utmost secrecy. You can't rebuild the Watchers Council without being knighted, and you obviously understand the need for the Watchers Council don't you? So you see our quandary."

"Am I to assume you already have a plan?" Giles asked with a long suffering sigh.

"Quite right, glad you asked," Lord Marbury laughed. "You see, as my role as Ambassador to the United States, I am obliged to inform Her Royal Highness of any matters that would require her presence or diplomatic extensions."

"The President's daughter's marriage," Giles muttered out.

"Three for three old chap, not quite as dulled as I'd thought these colonials were capable of," Lord Marbury laughed. "Of course Her Royal Highness was delighted to hear the news about young Ms Bartlet's nuptials to Mr Harris, and when she found out he was an acquaintance of yours and fought with the Slayer in defeating untold evil, well naturally your name came up, and as you were due to be knighted, well, as they say, the plan came together quite delightfully."

"Do tell," Giles muttered as he tried to think how bad this could possibly get.

"Well, Her Royal Highness obviously wanted to wish the President and his daughter congratulations on their blessed union," Lord Bartlet explained. "And when I mentioned that a diplomatic visit was due for the current administration she was delighted, it's all been arranged for two weeks' time, Her Royal Highness will be arriving to give blessings over the newly wedded couple on a diplomatic visit to the President. During which time a small ceremony will be held officially knighting you and tying you directly to the Council succession rites, now I will of course have to approach the President personally on this matter, we can't hold a knighting ceremony on colonial soil without at least inviting the man or getting his permission, would be trite rude to think otherwise. So, until that time, the Council's holdings and monetary funds have been transferred to your direct control for the process of rebuilding."

Giles' glasses literally dropped from his hand, slipping between his fingers until they clattered to the floor in the wood cabin, echoing through the empty room in the silence that followed Lord Marbury's statement.

"Rupert, Rupert old chap, are you still there?" Lord Marbury called down the line.

"Y… yes, yes, I'm just in a bit of shock at the news." Giles muttered as he reached down and picked his glasses back up.

"Yes well, desperate times, the surviving council mages are having a dreadful time identifying what appears to be tens of thousands of Slayers all around the world, quite mad won't you agree?" Lord Marbury chuckled. "I'm having them check the records, of course, surely an error or a drunken caster somewhere, but it does look like we are going to have quite the interesting year old friend."

"Y… yes, it does look that way." Giles stammered out.

"The old Chinese blessing, may you live in interesting times, equally a curse today I think you'll agree," Lord Marbury said quietly. "Anyway, meeting with the American Congress to arrange, as it turns out, organising a state visit from Her Royal Highness without actually involving the colonials seems to have annoyed them somewhat, can't imagine why. Anyway shouldn't be too hard for an ambassador to have a private meeting with them don't you think, must dash, do give me blessings to that spunky little Slayer of yours, Bunny was it? No Fluffy, whichever, you must bring her to Washington some time, would be a delightful honour to meet her."

"I… I will see if that's possible in the future," Giles stammered as he tried to get his brain in gear again and clear his cluttered thoughts up.

"All well then I hope," Lord Marbury said with finality. "Good to hear, I'll be looking forward to seeing you rebuild the Council, hopefully without the pomp and attitude of the last leading class obviously. Well, good hunting, must dash." Lord Marbury said finally before the phone went dead, leaving Giles holding the handset for a few moments afterwards as the ramifications of what had just happened sunk in.

"Bugger," Giles whispered quietly to himself as he looked around and tried to figure out what precisely he could do about this mess.


	4. Chapter 4

Dusk was rapidly approaching as Xander stood on the hotel balcony outside of his suite, it had taken him a while to find it, but with the help of a nameless secret service agent, and plenty of time wandering the hotel corridors, he had finally found where they had placed him. The hotel suite must have easily been as large as the one Zoey had shown him before, with separate rooms for a bedroom, bathroom and relaxing area.

The suite was actually bigger than his old basement bedroom at his parents, bigger even than his apartment in Sunnydale, leaving him in a sort of bemused state trying to figure out what people actually did with all the room. The closets were empty, literally the only clothes he had with him were the ones he'd changed out of, so he assumed they had been put in Zoey's room as he'd left them at her old room when they'd got changed.

Today had been the most manic and confusing day he'd ever lived through, with The President and all the White House people running around, the secret service agents on every corner, following him around whatever he did. Trying to answer questions from everyone that came to him, while trying to keep hold of his own sanity as he tried to keep the stories he was telling people together so he remembered them all.

He'd only come up to his hotel room really for a five minute break, getting away from everything after The President had told him about his parents. That, on top of everything else that had happened today, had left him feeling numb inside. After they'd ran from Sunnydale, literally with the town collapsing behind them, and then giving Anya a farewell, along with Robin and the other Slayers that had died in the final battle, he just hadn't had the chance to actually think about his parents and what had happened to them. Now, being told that they had died in Sunnydale, the guilt over the fact they hadn't got out in time had hit him tenfold.

In the time before the final battle, he should have made time to see them, to warn them, to tell them to get out of Sunnydale, something, anything. He'd made the time to try and get Dawn out, even though she'd tasered him and driven back to Sunnydale herself. He'd done that, stood by his friends, watched as Sunnydale destroyed itself behind him, but he hadn't taken ten minutes out to warn his parents about what was going on or try to convince them to leave.

Now he wasn't sure what to think, the fact he was numb inside just thinking about it didn't bode well for his mental state. Now he was torn between berating himself for not warning his parents, and berating himself more for not really feeling anything about their death. He knew how he felt about death, when Joyce had died he'd been broken up, arguing with Anya about why she didn't understand death, trying to keep it together for Dawn and Buffy, talking with Giles about it and generally feeling the loss just as equally as everyone else had. Then with Buffy's death and funeral, it had hit him even harder, even knowing how she'd died, with Glory and Dawn, she'd given her own life to save her sister, it didn't make it easier, dealing with the death of one of his best friends, but even then he'd felt something, loss, mourning, anger and helplessness. Now, he didn't feel anything.

When The President had told him about his parents it had been a shock, they'd shared a drink and then sat in silence for a moment while he tried to process it. He couldn't say that he'd actually been close to his parents, all in all, he'd say he actually avoided thinking about them most of the time, once he'd moved out and got his own place, he'd put all the memories of his parents shouting and arguing behind him, forcing a fresh start on himself.

But now he was convinced that the fact he didn't feel anything aside from numb and empty, made him out to be some sort of monster. He couldn't even cry, shed a tear for the fact that his parents had died, express any shame or guilt over the fact that it had been him, along with Willow, Buffy and the rest, that had destroyed Sunnydale and killed them.

He just wished he could feel something, anything at the moment. After the shock and manic nature of today, his brain was racing at a hundred miles an hour, berating himself, trying to figure out what was going on with everything, watching his words, trying to keep all his stories together, for one day, it was just a little too much.

He was torn out of his musings by a loud knock at the door, a brief reminder of how today had actually started, though thankfully he was dressed and it was extremely unlikely that anyone on the other side of the door had a camera with them.

Opening the door quickly he stood there, not exactly sure what to say when faced with Zoey's mother, The President's wife, stood on the other side of the open doorway.

"Hello," Abigail Bartlet said simply after a moment's silence.

"Hello," Xander parroted back before shaking his head. "Sorry, um, Mrs Bartlet. I was just, uh…"

"I understand," Abby nodded at him softly, knowing today must have been quite a hectic and crazy one for the young man. "I came to see if you would accompany me for dinner Alexander."

"Dinner?" Xander swallowed audibly, not knowing exactly what the protocol here was. "I, uh…"

"My husband and Zoey will be joining us as well," Abby explained with a small smile, noting the young man's discomfort. "I thought it would be a good idea for us all to sit down and get to know each other."

"Uh, sorry, yes ma'am." Xander said quickly with a nod. Hunger hadn't actually registered to him yet, when they'd arrived at the hotel in the afternoon, both him and Faith had eaten quite heartily at the buffet that had been laid out for them, so he hadn't really felt the need to organise anything to eat yet.

"Good," Abby smiled at him. "Shall we?" She asked, gesturing to the doorway.

"Now?" Xander asked a bit in shock. "Uh, can I just, um, splash some water on?" He asked, gesturing to the bathroom door.

"Be my guest," Abby nodded with a small smile, with Jed and Zoey waiting in the restaurant already, she knew she had plenty of time before Jed actually started ordering food without her, and it gave him some quiet time to speak to Zoey alone.

"Thanks, uh, Ma'am," Xander said quickly before practically running into the bathroom.

"Call me Abby," Abby called after him, smiling at the way he'd almost slammed the door shut in a hurry behind himself. "You don't have to be nervous Alexander."

"I'll keep telling myself that," Xander muttered from the bathroom where the tap was running loudly.

"I mean it," Abby rolled her eyes at the doorway. "Jed's a good judge of character, if he trusts you with our daughter, which means a lot."

"He's only known me a few hours ma'am," Xander explained as he walked out of the bathroom, using a small hand towel to dry off his face and eye patch before he paused as he caught the soft glare coming from Abby. "Abby."

"Better," Abby nodded at him. "And Jed's used to making decisions about people; he deals with them every day. If he thinks you're a good person, that's good enough for me."

"That and the guards everywhere," Xander said without thinking about it.

"Those too," Abby smirked softly at him. "Ready?" She asked, moving towards the hotel suite door.

"Not really," Xander answered rhetorically but followed her out of the suite anyway; closing the door after making sure the key card for the lock was in his pants pocket.

"So, tell me about yourself Alexander," Abby said as she walked along the hotel corridor beside him, doing her best to ease his nerves. "Not your past or what you plans are for you and Zoey," Abby smiled at him gently. "We can talk about those later on."

"Yes ma… Abby," Xander caught himself just in time. "I, uh, what would you like to know?" He asked, readying himself for another long stream of questions through the evening that he would have to answer as carefully as possible.

* * *

><p>"Ahh good, so good of you to meet me on such short notice," Lord John Marbury smiled easily as he walked into the Vice President's office.<p>

"Not at all," Vice President Hoynes nodded over to the visitor as he stood up from his desk. "Though I must say, you've chosen quite an inopportune time to visit the White House Ambassador."

"Couldn't be helped I'm afraid," Lord Marbury explained gingerly as he shook the offered hand. "I can understand what a hectic day this must be for you all, so I'll be brief."

"I'd appreciate that," The Vice President said with a nod.

"You are of course aware that The Queen is due for her annual visit here, and while it's something we normally try and organise with the minimum of fuss, I rather feel that this royal visit may be something of an exception." Lord Marbury explained.

"I wasn't, but go on," The Vice President explained, knowing that royal visits were normally organised between the ambassadors and The President himself. They would just appear on his calendar, much like any other state visit, and he would addend as usual.

"Yes, anyway," Lord Marbury shook the thought away. "As I was saying, The Queen's annual visit is coming up, within two weeks actually, and it happens that we have some business that we would like to conduct here during the time she is here." Lord Marbury explained before sitting down in the chair opposite the Vice President's desk. "May I?" He asked, nodding towards the decanter of expensive rum on the side table with two glasses.

"Of course," The Vice President nodded as he poured a glass for the ambassador. "And what business needs to be taken care of then?" He asked, wondering what would cause the British Ambassador to come and see him like this.

"A knighthood," Lord Marbury said simply as he accepted the glass of rum. "Thank you," He nodded as he took a sip. "Not something we normally do on visits like this, though there had been precedent for the ceremony to take place on foreign grounds while a royal visit takes place."

"I see," The Vice President nodded, unsure exactly what a knighting ceremony entailed, but knowing he would have an assistant look into it later on for him.

"Now, obviously Her Royal Highness would like to offer her congratulations to young Ms Bartlet and her new husband," Lord Marbury continued. "So, if we could organise a full gathering of sorts, separate occasions for The Queen to meet the happy couple, and the knighting ceremony of course."

"Of course," The Vice President frowned, trying to keep this all straight. "So, let me go back a second. The Queen of England will be here in less than two weeks for her royal visit?"

"Correct," Lord Marbury nodded, humouring The Vice President.

"During her time here, she wishes to organise a ceremony to have someone knighted?" The Vice President asked.

"Correct again, you're keeping up better than I'd hoped," Lord Marbury said, rolling his eyes at the glare the Vice President sent his way.

"And a separate ceremony for her to meet The President's family and offer her congratulations on his youngest daughter's wedding?" The Vice President clarified again, not personally knowing what would be happening with the wedding or Ms Bartlet's future, aside from the news room and what he'd heard from CJ, he was as much in the dark about the wedding as everyone else was.

"Correct, you're three for three there old chap," Lord Marbury smirked over.

"And there is a particular reason you are coming to me personally with this? Rather than organising it through the White House state officials?" The Vice President asked, knowing there had to be more to it than what was being said here.

"Well, yes, there are a few snags that I suppose you should be made aware of," Lord Marbury smiled softly as he took another drink of the rum. "The fellow to be knighted, quite an important chap really, Rupert Giles."

"An American?" The Vice President asked carefully.

"Good god no," Lord Marbury shook his head quickly. "Dreadful thought, old friend of mine actually, been staying here for several years now. Thankfully uncorrupted by your ways and influence, no offence intended obviously."

"Obviously," The Vice President rolled his eyes as he jotted down the name on a bit of paper.

"Well, it seems old Rupert is chummy with that Alexander fellow," Lord Marbury explained. "The President's new son-in-law that is."

"The man you wish to knight, is friends with Ms Bartlet's new husband?" The Vice President asked after a moment, wondering if he'd heard him correctly.

"Yes yes, wonderful coincidence don't you think?" Lord Marbury grinned at him. "Well, old Rupert has quite a bit of influence it seems, least of all this knighting palaver," He explained. "So, when it was brought to Royal attention that he knew The President's new son-in-law, well, it all came together quite beautifully."

"That's not what I'd call it," The Vice President frowned, rubbing his forehead with his hands. "Is this, Rupert Giles," He continued after checking the name he'd jotted down. "Family of the young man that married The President's daughter?"

"Hmm?" Lord Marbury raised his eyebrow questioningly. "Oh no, god no, just friends as far as I'm aware. But, seeing as the marriage of your President's daughter seems to be quite a delicate matter to be discussed, I rather thought I'd come to you to organise this, rather than let it slip through the cracks with some young assistant or such."

"Of course," The Vice President frowned, wondering what else could possibly go wrong today for them. "I'm assuming The Queen's visit and the Knighting ceremony will be closed events?"

"Naturally," Lord Marbury nodded. "The Royal Visit is somewhat of a redressed affair, there isn't much official business for her to take care of here, so the ceremony and meeting with your President's family can be arranged at your discretion. Of course, we would like the Knighting ceremony to be broadcast live, it has been quite a while since an official ceremony like this was performed on foreign soil, so it's something we would like the folks at home to enjoy live if at all possible."

"I'm sure we can organise something for you there," The Vice President nodded, knowing that CJ would have a list of all the reporters and news networks that could be vetted and trusted for an official Royal ceremony. "Is that all?"

"Hmmm? Yes, I do believe so," Lord Marbury nodded as he finished off his rum. "Wonderful drink by the way."

"I'm glad you approve," The Vice President said as he stood up. "I will have the state branch contact you once arrangements have been made for the Royal visit."

"Of course, of course, take your time," Lord Marbury nodded as he stood up as well. "Delightful to have this meeting anyway, seems I don't spend nearly enough time here."

"Well I'm sure you're a very busy man Ambassador," The Vice President smiled softly, offering his hand.

"Too busy by far these days," Lord Marbury chuckled as he shook the offered hand. "Plenty to get on with however, so I'll leave you be."

"That would be appreciated," The Vice President said as Lord Marbury moved to leave the office.

"Do pass on my congratulations to your President and his daughter won't you?" Lord Marbury smiled as he paused by the door. "I suppose I'll meet them both in time, but all the same."

"I'll pass the word on Ambassador," The Vice President nodded with a small smile.

"Good good, now, where's the way out, ahh…"

The Vice President rolled his eyes at the Ambassador's antics as his voice trailed off as the door closed, leaving him alone in his office to think about what had just been discussed here. A few moments in silence passed before he picked up the phone and patched himself through to his assistant. "Sarah, get me information on British Knighting Ceremonies, and run down a name for me, Rupert Giles. Yes, I'll be working late." He frowned as he sat down the phone again, knowing how efficient his assistant was that he'd have the information within the hour.

Standing up he grabbed his jacket, knowing that there were other people around the White House that would want a heads-up on this as soon as possible, and in turn, they would be able to inform The President about all of this, leaving him to carry on with his day and try to keep things here running smoothly while The President finished off his personal business in Las Vegas.

"CJ, one second," He announced quickly as he walked out of his office, rushing quickly as CJ simply walked past his door at that moment.

* * *

><p>"Zoey, good, I was looking for you," President Bartlet said with a nod as he walked into the private restaurant area, automatically taking his glasses off and sliding them into his pocket. "Your mother said you'd be here."<p>

"Just waiting for her and you dad," Zoey smiled as she stood up from the table that Abby had organised for them, moving over to give her father a hug. "Are you ok?" She asked as she moved back to her seat once he'd made the motion to sit down with her.

"I'm fine," President Bartlet said with a nod as he poured a glass of water from the jug on the table. "I'm more worried about you."

"Dad," Zoey sighed. "I'm fine, really, I want to do this."

"But you shouldn't have to, not for me, not for those reasons." President Bartlet explained. "Marriage is sacred Zoey, not something you can jump in and out of because it pleases you." He paused, holding his hand up when he saw Zoey was about to argue with him. "I know, you didn't mean to get married, believe me, I know."

"It's the right thing to do dad," Zoey said after taking a sharp breath. "If we filed for divorce or got an annulment, the press would just use it as a smear campaign against you. I already saw what they said about you and the MS; I don't want them to go through it all again just because I messed up."

"Oh hush," President Bartlet shook his head. "You didn't mess up. A small mistake, the foibles of youth, nothing more."

"Dad. I was married by Captain Kirk," Zoey reminded him, blushing a bit in embarrassment as she remembered the photo, the only real memory she had of her wedding night.

"I'll admit, that wasn't exactly what I had in mind for your wedding," President Bartlet smirked good naturedly. "Of course, I hadn't actually thought about you getting married for a good few years yet little lady."

"I know," Zoey sighed, hating the fact that she'd actually let her father down like this. "Dad, really, I didn't…" She trailed off as he stood up, his eyes fixing on something behind her.

"I take it you're responsible for planning this," President Bartlet said with a small smile as he watched Abby walk in followed by Alexander.

"I am," Abby confirmed with a nod. "You've been in and out of meetings all day, trying to organise or counter whatever the press are going to be saying." Abby explained. "Now I understand there are complications here, but this is our daughter Jed, and I thought it was about time we actually sat down as a family and talked about this."

"And I take it you didn't have any say in this either?" President Bartlet asked, turning to Alexander.

"No, no sir," Xander shook his head quickly. "I just follow the women and do what I'm told, uh, sir."

"A wise choice," President Bartlet smiled wryly at him and nodded.

"Shall we?" Abby said with a smile, gesturing to the table where Zoey was stood watching them.

"By all means," President Bartlet said with a nod, moving back to the table and holding one chair out for his wife, before moving back opposite her to sit on the other side of Zoey, leaving Xander to sit opposite her.

"Jed," Abby said, putting her thoughts on his seating arrangements into the single name as she glared lightly at him.

"I'm not that accepting of them," President Bartlet said as he gestured for Xander to take the empty seat. "At least not yet."

"So there's some hope," Abby smiled, shuffling her chair slightly to give Xander some more room to sit down. "Now, I think a nice family meal will be just what the doctor ordered."

"Any you're the doctor prescribing it of course," President Bartlet said with a small smile.

"Exactly, so be nice and relax for a change," Abby nodded at him. "The boys upstairs can take care of everything for a while, and Leo knows where we are in case he needs you for anything."

"Fine," President Bartlet nodded in agreement, knowing better than to argue with Abby when she had her mind set on something. "I was going to find something to eat myself soon anyway."

"Good," Abby nodded, tapping on the menu that was on the table. "So, Alexander, I'm assuming you're not a vegetarian or anything?"

"No, no ma'am," Xander said, shaking his head at the idea.

"What did I tell you Alexander?" Abby scolded him lightly, a half smile on her face to show she was only kidding.

"Sorry… Abby," Xander said finally, pausing in-between the words as he wasn't sure if he would be offending The President by being on first name terms with his wife, even though she had been the one that asked him to call her by it.

"Good," Abby smiled at him. "Now, I'm in the mood for steak, I don't know about you three…" She trailed off with a smile as The President picked up the menu and looked for himself.

* * *

><p>"Leo," Leo answered the phone simply as he picked it up, knowing whoever was on the other end of the line had come through to his number directly, so it was a good bet it was either a member of the White House staff or security.<p>

"Leo, CJ," CJ's voice came over the line clearly, reminding Leo that there was still people back at the White House taking care of the day to day things there.

"What's wrong now?" Leo asked pessimistically, sitting down in the chair by the phone and waiting for more bad news to come their way, with the way today had been going so far, there was only so much bad news that could fall on them at one time, at least, that was his theory anyway.

"Nothing," CJ said simply. "Well, not really wrong, more unusual shall we say."

"CJ," Leo put his warning into her name, waiting for her to spit it out.

"Hoynes had a meeting with Lord John Marbury earlier this evening," CJ explained after a pause.

"That lunatic?" Leo frowned at the phone. "What did he want?"

"To pass on his blessings to The President's daughter," CJ answered quickly.

"That's it?" Leo asked carefully.

"There's more," CJ's voice continued. "I'm emailing over the details now, it gets a bit complicated so…"

"Simplify it for me," Leo said sharply.

"Fine," CJ breathed out while gathering her thoughts. "Lord Marbury came in because the Royal visit is less than two weeks away, and he wants to organise it as a special occasion for The Queen to give her blessing to the happy couple."

"He wants what?" Leo all but shouted down the phone.

"There's more," CJ paused for a second before continuing. "Also, the visit will include a full Knighting ceremony, don't ask what that entails because I haven't the foggiest." She explained over the phone. "The person due to be knighted, and you'll love this, is a friend of Alexander Harris'."

"You're kidding me," Leo said in disbelief.

"I don't have that much of a death wish," CJ shot back. "It seems Mr Harris has friends in quite high places, one of them is about to be knighted in less than two weeks."

"They can do that?" Leo frowned at the phone.

"They did it eighteen years ago in New York, that was the last Knighting Ceremony on American soil," CJ explained what her research had turned up. "Of course, Sir Richard whatever his name was, was an American, this will be the first British person to be knighted on American soil in over eighty years."

"They're going to want to make a big deal of this," Leo muttered to himself.

"Of course," CJ agreed with him over the phone. "And naturally, this comes with a full Royal visit from The Royal family, who will be giving their blessings on Alexander and Zoey's wedding."

"Oh he's going to love that," Leo sighed. "Royal blessings, is that going to be a thing?"

"It doesn't appear so," CJ reassured him. "I had someone look it up; it's more a custom than anything official, normally reserved for Royal weddings though it has been bestowed on the families of Heads of State before. When President Johnson's daughter was married at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the Royal family gave their blessing over the ceremony."

"So it's performed at the ceremony?" Leo asked with raised eyebrows.

"Apparently, though seeing as Alexander and Zoey are already married…" CJ trailed off. "I'll research into what exactly the blessing will entail."

"Thanks," Leo nodded at the phone. "I've been meaning to call you actually. We're going to be giving the press something for the Thursday edition; I'll have the details faxed over to you."

"Giving them something?" CJ parroted. "What exactly are we giving them?"

"Wedding photos," Leo said simply. "We'll be redressing the wedding; I've got Sam and Josh looking into it now. Full dress, professionally shot, the works."

"So they're staying together?" CJ asked over the phone, a bit in disbelief at what she was being told.

"For the moment," Leo frowned. "I can't go into it here, but I'll walk you through everything that's happened when I get a chance."

"I'd appreciate that," CJ said quickly. "I'll let the press know to expect something."

"And look up that Royal blessing thing," Leo reminded her. "Royal blessing and a knighthood, we haven't had that many official requests from England since… before I can remember."

"You don't need to tell me Leo," CJ said, agreeing with his sentiment. "Of course, this means that Lord Marbury will be around a lot more than we're used to."

"God help us," Leo muttered wryly. "Thanks CJ."

"I'll keep you informed." CJ said before hanging up the line, leaving Leo sat in his chair to ponder what he'd just been told.

* * *

><p>"My wife hates it when I order it like this," President Bartlet smiled as the waiter brought over their meals, the restaurant had been basically cordoned off for them, leaving a nice quiet room for them to eat together and talk, with only the secret service agents in the background to overhear what was said.<p>

"I used to deal with blood every day, I don't need to see it on my plate when I'm eating," Abby justified her thoughts, staring at the rare stake President Bartlet had just ordered and the equally rare stake that had been put down in front of Xander.

"The best way to eat it," President Bartlet said with a small smile before looking at Xander. "Don't you agree?"

"Yes, yes sir," Xander answered hesitantly, not really wanting to side on either side of the food argument but deciding finally that honesty would always work best here.

"See? Finally, someone to back me up here. No point in eating a steak if it's been burnt to death." President Bartlet smiled as he cut into his steak, anticipating the taste of the bright pink meat that his knife revealed.

"It's not burnt dad, it's cooked." Zoey argued, nodding at the well done steak that she'd ordered along with her mother.

"Cooked, well done, burnt, it all means the same thing." President Bartlet answered her back good naturedly. "Can we have some mustard over here, grainy?" He asked, nodding at the waiter who was stood by the bar waiting for any further orders. "Yes?" He asked, looking over at Xander.

"Could… uh, could I have some peri sauce?" Xander asked hesitantly.

"Peri sauce? On a steak?" Abby asked him with raised eyebrows.

"A… uh, a friend got me into it." Xander explained, not wanting to say it had been Anya that had always enjoyed the hot peri sauce on her steaks, it was normally reserved for marinating chicken, but Anya had always loved the extra spicy sauce over her steak.

"Some Peri Peri as well if you would." President Bartlet called over. "Well, aside from Alexander's strange eating habits, I'm sure we can find something else to discuss."

"Coming from the man who dips celery in chocolate spread when he's snacking," Abby smiled good naturedly at The President while winking discretely at Zoey.

"Elizabeth likes chocolate buttons on her pizza," Zoey interrupted.

"Don't get me started with that monstrosity," President Bartlet groused. "I tasted that once, horrible. Worse than anchovies. You don't eat anchovies on pizza do you?" He asked, turning to Xander.

"Uh, no sir," Xander shook his head quickly. "Pepperoni, ham, those sorts of things."

"Good," President Bartlet nodded. "If there's one thing I can't stand its bad breath, especially fish breath."

"I'll remember that next time you're craving a tuna sandwich," Abby smiled at him, causing him to roll his eyes at her.

"I don't…" President Bartlet trailed off as he saw the restaurant door open, the secret service agent automatically turning to check the door before holding it open for Leo fully. "Excuse me." He said quietly, standing up from the table and walking over to see Leo.

"So, Alexander," Abby smiled at him. "Zoey tells me you were working your way towards management at the construction firm in Sunnydale."

"It… it wasn't quite like that," Xander almost coughed out, pausing to pour himself a glass of water.

"He's just being modest mom," Zoey interrupted with a small smile over at him. "He was working as the project engineer, answering to the management and overseeing the rebuilding of the High School in Sunnydale."

"That's quite a big job for someone so young," Abby smiled at him. "The management there must have thought very highly of you."

"I, I just enjoy my work," Xander answered honestly. "Meeting with people, being on site, making sure everything's up to code and planning everything out. It was just something I sort of fell into and found I was actually good at."

"Well, that's good. It's rare for people to find their calling so early in life these days. If it's something you enjoy, and it's something you're obviously good at, then you should stick with it." Abby said with a nod towards him. "There's nothing wrong with good hard work, someone that's overlooked a lot these days sadly."

"No ma'am… I mean Abby," Xander corrected himself quickly. "I, I guess I just like working with my hands, getting things done, seeing the finished product and…" He trailed off as he noticed President Bartlet coming back over.

"It's alright," President Bartlet nodded to him, gesturing for him to remain seated when he saw that Xander was about to stand up for him. "Leo just came to inform me of some developments back in Washington that I should be aware of."

"Is everything alright?" Abby asked, curious as to what Leo would have interrupted their meal for.

"Fine, fine," President Bartlet said with a nod as he sat back down. "Though it does seem that Alexander here hasn't told us the whole story about his friends."

Xander froze at those words, his glass of water half way to his mouth as Abby and Zoey turned to look at him in curiosity over what The President was saying.

"One of Mr Harris' friends, a Rupert Giles I believe, is due to be knighted soon." President Bartlet explained with a frown. "The British Royal Family will be conducting a ceremony in Washington in a few weeks."

"Gi… Rupert is getting knighted?" Xander all but coughed, forcing himself to take a mouthful of his water to get over the shock. "I… I take it that's a big deal then?"

"You tell me," President Bartlet said, cutting into his steak again and motioning for everyone else to continue with their meals. "I've just been informed that The Queen will also wish to pass her blessings over your marriage in a private ceremony at the White House."

That news did make Xander choke, forcing him to refill his water quickly as everyone looked on, even Abby and Zoey looked shocked at this revelation as Abby lent over and patted Xander on the back sharply to help him get over coughing.

"The Queen wants to bless our marriage?" Zoey asked in shock, the colour leaving her face as the implications of what was being discussed hit her.

"That's what I asked," President Bartlet nodded at her. "It seems it's not without precedent, it just hasn't happened in such a long time as a daughter of The President hasn't been married while in office."

"So, it's a normal thing for the Royal family to do?" Abby asked in shock.

"Leo's looking into it now," President Bartlet explained. "But he assures me that it's par for the course for a Presidential wedding." He paused, taking a mouthful of his water. "But that does mean that your wedding, as misconceived as it was, has made international news."

"Jed," Abby warned him gently, reminding him that he was supposed to be being nice to Zoey and Alexander.

"It's ok mom," Zoey said softly, looking at her father. "Dad, I know, I said I'm sorry, I'm just…"

"I'm not judging you, either of you," President Bartlet said with a frown, looking at both Zoey and Alexander now. "If it was just you two, I'd agree with your plan to stay married for the course, and then we could discuss things further down the line." He explained. "But it's not; this has become a lot bigger than just a drunken wedding now."

"Does… does it change anything sir?" Xander asked in a quiet voice. "I mean, the royal blessing thing?"

"I don't know," President Bartlet shook his head, acknowledging that it was a valid question to ask. "At the very least it means that any divorce between you, either now or further on, will be a scandal that will be internationally picked up. With a royal blessing, the papers in Britain will be following your wedding as closely as the papers here will be. I'm having Leo look into any further complications now."

"Are you sure you both still want to do this?" Abby asked, looking at them both in turn. "This isn't going to be simple, not with foreign dignitaries wanting to bless your union."

"It's the right thing to do mom," Zoey answered first. "If we got a divorce, then the scandal would ruin the re-election campaign."

"You let me worry about that," President Bartlet said firmly. "I won't see you dragged through the mud just to save my presidential election."

"And I don't want to see the papers using me and Xander as a weapon against you," Zoey answered back quickly. "We're doing this dad, I know you don't like what happened, and I'm sorry, but this is the easiest thing to do for all of us."

"I wouldn't say that," Abby frowned at Zoey. "The easiest thing would be to get a divorce and not to worry about what the papers said about your father." Abby smiled at her, taking the sting out of her words. "But you're better than that, both of you." She said, turning to Xander with a smile.

"And you're sure about this?" President Bartlet asked, turning to Xander and fixing him with a stare.

"Yes sir," Xander answered firmly. "I don't want to see the newspapers, or, what were they called?" He asked, turning to Zoey for clarification.

"Paparazzi," Zoey smiled, knowing what he was asking.

"Right, paparazzi, saying anything about Zoey or you," He continued with a smile. "This was my mistake, and I want to fix it, however I can."

"You understand that there will be certain rules to this," President Bartlet said with a frown. "You may be married legally, but there are limits on what I will allow you to do with my daughter you understand."

"Yes, yes sir." Xander answered quietly with a nod.

"Dad," Zoey whined with a small smile.

"I'm just saying," President Bartlet continued. "You will behave respectfully towards my daughter, I'm not naïve enough to believe she hasn't had relationships before, Charlie notwithstanding, but there are limits on what I will allow if you both wish to continue this marriage for my benefit."

"I understand sir," Xander nodded before either Abby or Zoey could object.

"You will of course be expected to behave like a couple in the public view," President Bartlet continued. "A certain amount of closeness is to be expected I understand. But I do not want to hear that you have made any untoward advances towards my daughter, is that understood."

"Dad, I…" Zoey started to object but went quiet when President Bartlet cut her off.

"I know what happened last night, or I know as much as I'm comfortable knowing," President Bartlet explained. "But I will expect from this moment on, for you to behave as a perfect gentleman towards my daughter Alexander, is that understood?"

"Yes sir," Xander nodded quickly. "I would never do anything to hurt Zoey."

"See that you don't." President Bartlet said before slicing another piece of steak off.

"Dad, you can't control me like this," Zoey objected after making sure that her father had finished speaking. "I get that you're angry over what I did, but you can't just lock me away and control my life." She said, standing up and moving to stand beside Xander. "Xander is a good man dad, really, just because I was drunk, it doesn't mean he took advantage of me."

"I don't want to talk about this," President Bartlet said sharply.

"Well we've got to at some point," Zoey argued back. "Dad, I'm a grown woman, I can make my own choices."

"And we've seen how well that turns out haven't we?" President Bartlet argued back.

"Listen to me, if me and Xander are staying married, and we're doing it for you, I'm not going to let you control every aspect of our lives." Zoey explained in a pleading voice. "Whatever happens, it's my choice, and Xander's choice, it's not up to you anymore." She said with finality, leaning down and pulling Xander into a passionate kiss, leaving President Bartlet and Abby watching on in shock. "It's my life dad, not yours." She said as she broke the kiss, leaving Xander as startled as President Bartlet as she walked away from the table and out of the restaurant, with two of the secret service agents following her out.

"I… uh… I don't…" Xander started to speak, not really knowing what to say in a situation like this.

"Go after her," Abby smiled at him. "And you, stay," She said, turning to her husband as Xander gingerly slid his chair back and stood up.

"I… sir, I'd never take advantage of Zoey, not in any way."

"I know that," Abby smiled at him. "Now, go." She smiled, nodding at the door where Zoey had left. Waiting a few moments for Xander to leave and close the door behind him before she took her hand off of her husband's knee. "Well, that could have gone better." She said with a small smile, knowing full well that arguments between her husband and their daughters were par for the course of their relationship. "You know, Zoey could do a lot worse than young Alexander."

"They were married drunk Abby, what the hell kind of way is that to start a relationship?" President Bartlet demanded.

"It might not be ideal, but it's their lives. If it's something they want to do, then you can't stop that." Abby reminded him.

"I'm sure I can find a way," President Bartlet scowled back.

"Not without ruining any relationship you have with Zoey," Abby argued. "And me."

"You can't be taking their side on this," President Bartlet replied in disbelief. "They're too young, Zoey hasn't even finished university yet, it's no time for her to settle down and be in a relationship with a man she hardly knows."

"It's her choice Jed," Abby reminded him. "And arguing with her, or Alexander, is just going to push her further and further away."

"When did she get so passionate anyway?" President Bartlet frowned over at his wife. "She never kissed Charlie that way, I'd remember that."

"You never saw them behind closed doors," Abby laughed quietly. "But, you're right."

"I am?" President Bartlet asked, a bit in shock at being right about something in this argument. "What exactly am I right about?"

"She never did kiss Charlie like that," Abby smiled as she poured a fresh glass of water for herself. "And it's been a long time since I've seen Zoey that passionate about anything."

"You like him don't you," President Bartlet stated after a moment, pausing to think about what Abby was saying.

"He's honest, hardworking, and you said it yourself, he'd be willing to put himself on the line for Zoey," Abby smiled at him. "What else could we ask for for our youngest?"

"At least he's not a republican, I'll give him that," President Bartlet frowned as he cut off another bit of steak to enjoy.

"And I think our daughter is falling for him, wedding or no wedding," Abby explained. "If you try and push them apart, I don't see it going well."

"You know, I liked it more when you were telling me I was right," President Bartlet said with a frown as he ate the piece of steak he'd sliced off.

"I'm sure Zoey will come to us if she needs our help with anything," Abby smiled good naturedly at her husband turning into the overprotective father again. "She's got a good head on her shoulders, and she follows her heart, just like you taught her."

"I didn't teach her to follow her heart drunkenly to a Star Trek themed chapel," President Bartlet shot back with a small smile.

"I'll admit, that those aren't the sort of wedding photos I'd hoped to see from Zoey," Abby said honestly.

"That's right, I forgot to bring that up," President Bartlet said. "How about we redress the wedding. A proper gown for Zoey, a tuxedo for Alexander. Photographs, cake, the whole nine yards."

"You want them to get married again?" Abby asked, raising her eyebrow at this idea. "After the argument you just had with Zoey?"

"I never said I was consistent," President Bartlet argued back. "I was talking about it with Leo earlier, using the photos from the redress to give to the press; hopefully it will get them to stop printing that picture of Alexander and Zoey in their hotel room."

"You think it would work?" Abby asked hopefully, she'd only seen the picture once or twice; she hadn't been able to bring herself to actually search out newspapers with it on, not wanting to see any paper that would splash her youngest daughter half-dressed across their front page.

"Leo seems to think so," President Bartlet said thoughtfully. "But, if Zoey is actually wanting to pursue a relationship with Alexander…"

"Then you'll give them a proper wedding later on," Abby cut him off. "But I think a redress is a wonderful idea."

"If I can get them both to agree to it that is," President Bartlet sighed. "That is if Zoey will ever talk to me again."

"You let me worry about that," Abby smiled at him. "I'd rather have Zoey looking beautiful in a proper gown over a Star Trek themed wedding any day of the week, so leave that to me."

"I sent Josh and Sam out to look into it for me." President Bartlet explained. "I'll have them give you any pricing or locations they find."

"Good," Abby smiled at him. "Now, you finish your steak, and let me deal with Zoey." She said, standing up from the table and tapping her husband on the shoulder.

"Tell her," President Bartlet trailed off with a sigh. "Tell them both, I'm sorry."

"I'll tell them," Abby said with a smile, leaning down and kissing her husband on the cheek. "It's been a stressful day. I'm sure they'll understand."

"I meant what I said though, every word of it." President Bartlet defended himself. "If he hurts her, god help him."

"I'll be sure to mention that," Abby said with a roll of her eyes as she moved away from the table. "Enjoy your steak." She said as a parting shot before leaving the restaurant with the usual secret service agent following her. "Find out where my daughter is will you." She said to him, waiting for him to start speaking discreetly into his ear piece before she continued walking.

"Residential floor ma'am, with Mr Harris." The agent replied quickly.

"Thank you," Abby nodded at him as she strode towards the elevator.

* * *

><p>Rupert Giles all but stalked around the outside of the cabin he'd rented for the night, he'd only gone outside to get some fresh air, several hours after the phone call from Lord Marbury and thoughts were still rushing round in his head, trying to understand what Lord Marbury was planning and how, if there was any way, he could actually excuse himself from being involved in any of the plans.<p>

He knew Buffy, Willow and the other Slayers wouldn't be back before daybreak at least, possibly not until later on in the day tomorrow, which left him ample time on his own to actually sit down and think about things and try to work through his thoughts in quiet.

This was officially his first night of relaxing, after seven years on the Hellmouth, then running to Las Vegas, then running from Las Vegas because of the drunken marriage Xander got himself caught up in, well, he'd actually been looking forward to relaxing for once and spending an evening reading in quiet.

Though a simple phone call from Lord Marbury had ruined all of that in a single moment. The plan, as much of it had been thought out, had originally been to rest for a few days at Las Vegas, and then to move from there towards another hunting ground where the new Slayers could be trained and tutored, there were several noteworthy places he knew of where a large group of Slayers could actively patrol and hunt, while doing some good for the world in general.

Obviously, Hellmouths, places of mystical convergence, were top of his list. After closing the Hellmouth in Sunnydale, it was obvious to him that other Hellmouths around the world would start fluctuating in power as a result of their actions, whether this would be for good or ill, would be something they would have to research and explore further.

Though to his knowledge, there were now only three active Hellmouths in the United States, one in Cleveland, a guarded Hellmouth in Saratoga, Wyoming. Though the Wyoming Hellmouth had been under Council control since the early eighteen forties, the last Hellmouth that he knew of was in Schenectady, a place the native tribes had called The Place Beyond the Pine Plains. Which, not as threatening as Boca Del Infierno, he knew from Council records that the Hellmouth in Schenectady had been steadily luring people with promises of innocence and heaven for centuries, only to have people vanish from the world altogether.

Of course, all his plans now hinged on what would happen with Xander and his current predicament, and naturally working around the plans Lord Marbury had for him and rebuilding The Watchers Council. Leaving anything he could plan for the future rather up in the air at the moment until he knew more about what was going on.

* * *

><p>"Uh, hey?" Xander asked hesitantly as he caught up with Zoey as she stormed into the elevator on the ground floor of the hotel they were staying at, ignoring the looks from tourists as the secret service agents followed them and called the elevator down automatically for them both. "Whoa, I come in peace." He said, holding up his hands when she turned to glare at him.<p>

"Sorry," Zoey said after a moment, taking a second to breathe deeply. "It's just… ugh, I hate it when he tries to control everything, everything has to be done his way, on his schedule, by his rules. Not that I should have expected anything else, growing up it was always like it, even Liz got fed up of it from time to time."

"Liz?" Xander asked as the elevator doors opened for them to walk in, hoping to distract her from her frustration for the moment by talking about anything else.

"Keep forgetting you don't know any of this," Zoey said with a half-smile. "My sister, I'm the youngest, Liz and Eleanor are my older sisters."

"Gotcha," Xander nodded, committing the names to memory. "So, uh, they live at the White House too?" He asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

"No," Zoey laughed at the idea. "Liz is married, god, almost eight years now. Ellie's training to be a Doctor, following in mom's footsteps."

"So it's just you and your parents there then?" Xander asked, curious now as to what her life was actually like.

"You know, I don't actually live at the White House Xander," Zoey laughed at him. "I'm at university in Georgetown, I live on campus with my roommate, or ex roommate now that is."

"Ah," Xander nodded, remembering what she had told him about her roommate sleeping with her boyfriend at the time.

"I can't go back there, not after seeing…" Zoey trailed off, closing her eyes and shaking her head to get rid of the memory of walking in on her boyfriend and roommate in bed together. "I'm not stepping one foot in that apartment again." She said firmly.

"Sure you can switch rooms or something, I mean, could always talk to the admin guys, sure they'd be happy to find a new place or something." Xander offered helpfully. "And you've got plenty of guys to help you move." He said with a grin, nodding towards the two secret service agents that were stood in the elevator with them.

Zoey just smiled, shaking her head at his comments. "I can't just ask secret service agents to carry my boxes everywhere, it doesn't work like that." She laughed at the thought. "Thanks though." She said with a final smile, reaching out and touching his arm lightly.

"For what?" Xander asked innocently, smiling at her and enjoying the way she touched his arm.

"For taking my mind off things," Zoey said simply. "I know what you're doing, and I know mom told you to follow me."

"Wasn't sure if you wanted company or not," Xander said honestly. "And I figured jumping up from the table to follow you after that kiss, would probably lead to The President having me shot before I got out of the restaurant."

"Oh god," Zoey laughed, cradling her face in her hands so Xander didn't see her blush. "I'm sorry, I didn't think, I just…"

"Hey, don't be sorry," Xander smiled at her. "Getting kissed by a beautiful woman, can't see a down side here." He laughed. "Though I kinda think you left The President wondering if he should lock us both up after that little display."

"Don't remind me," Zoey laughed. "He threatened to build a flat under the White House just for me when Charlie asked me out before. He wasn't keen on that either."

"Fathers rule," Xander said with a nod. "No man is ever good enough for their daughter."

"You have sisters then?" Zoey asked, knowing that that was exactly how her father felt about any man asking her out. It's why she'd been surprised that he'd actually accepted her dating Charlie, even though she knew that he was watching Charlie at work and making sure that he behaved appropriately at every moment.

"Nah," Xander shook his head. "Just plenty of girl friends, not girlfriends, but friends, who are girls, you know what I mean right?"

"Like Willow," Zoey said, giving him a break after smiling at the way he fell over his words trying to explain it to her.

"Yes, thank you, like Willow and Buffy." Xander said as the elevator doors opened. "Buffy's dad wasn't exactly around much, or at all really, but Willow's dad was pretty cool, when he was around anyway."

"Sounds like you all grew up without dads really." Zoey said as she led the way out into the corridor.

"Yeah, kinda," Xander nodded in agreement. "Guess Giles was the surrogate dad for the group really, only one that really stuck around for us all."

"He sounds like a good man," Zoey said with a smile. "He's the one that's going to be knighted right?"

"That's what The President said," Xander nodded. "I don't even know what knighted means, aside from some Brit thing that is."

"Leo will probably know," Zoey explained. "He knows all that sort of stuff, dad always goes to him with questions like that. Or you could just ask your friend, he obviously would know what it means."

"Yeah," Xander laughed. "So, uh, this is your room then?" He asked as Zoey paused in front of a door.

"Yeah," Zoey nodded. "I should…" She said softly, fishing her key card out of her purse.

"Yeah," Xander parroted back. "It's been a long day." He admitted to her, standing there awkwardly, unsure what to really say here.

"You could come in?" Zoey offered after a moment, have a drink or watch some TV or something.

"I think The President would have me shot if he found us together in your room," Xander laughed the idea off. "And I kinda like being in one piece."

"I'm sure he wouldn't do that," Zoey laughed. "But yeah, sleep would be good right now." She admitted, stifling a yawn. "We can talk tomorrow."

"I'd like that," Xander said with a smile, putting his hands in his pockets casually so they weren't just dangling at his sides while they talked. "I'll uh, see you then?"

"Good night," Zoey said with a smile, leaning in and giving him a small kiss on the cheek.

"Night," Xander said, flushing a bit at where she kissed him before turning to walk away, leaving Zoey stood by her open door watching him walk back to his hotel room.

* * *

><p>Abby smiled from her view point by the elevator, by the looks of things, she'd only missed them talking on the ride up and walk along to Zoey's room. She hadn't been close enough to hear what they were talking about, but she knew her daughter well enough to see that Zoey was comfortable with Alexander and he made her smile.<p>

She watched as Zoey lent in and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek, not the passionate showy kiss that she'd given him downstairs to make a point to her father, but a tender kiss with the promise of real emotion behind it, the sort of kiss that she gave to Jed when she walked past his desk and he was busy working.

It was just a small, simple gesture, but it was one that made her smile more than anything else had today. If they were both happy, and obviously falling for each other, then maybe her husband's plan of redressing the wedding would work for them both. She'd obviously have to find Zoey a dress, and get Alexander into a tuxedo, Sam could probably help there. And of course she'd want her other daughters to be there as well, while it wouldn't be an 'official' wedding, as Zoey and Alexander were already married, it would be the wedding she could give her, even if it was just for show really.

"They seem happy," She said to herself as she walked back inside the elevator, not really expecting any response from the secret service agent there waiting for her, so when silence responded she carried on. "Back to the restaurant please." She said with a smile, watching Zoey's door move out of view as the elevator doors closed on her.


End file.
